Of Demons, Hormones, and Spying
by Heosic-chan
Summary: Three years after the chuunin exams, Gaara is thinking about Naruto, and Naruto is thinking about Gaara. When Gaara decides to visit, romance blooms and yaoi fangirls appear. Lots of fangirls. GaanaruGaa, KakaIru, NejiKan and other pairings...
1. Chapter 1

Author notes: Umm, this is my very first fan fiction ever. Seeing as I have only read a few Naruto books and some scenes from Shounen Jump, some people will probably be OOC. Yeah, it's GaaNaru with some KakaIru and maybe other pairings. In this story Naruto and Gaara can talk to Kyuubi and Shukaku. Also, Kyuubi's female. Hope you like it! BTW, this is kinda AU, but not really.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form.

Warnings: Shounen-ai. Don't like, don't read.

* * *

Of Demons, Hormones, and Spying 

Chapter 1

Gaara was confused. It had been three years since Naruto beat him in the chuunin exam, and he couldn't stop thinking about the blonde demon vessel… and he dreamed about him too. The dreams were strange to him, and involved weird feelings and thoughts.

'_Idiot, haven't you ever heard of puberty? Or hormones maybe?' _Shukaku suddenly asked him.

'_Of course I know about puberty and hormones, Temari told me about it last year! Aren't you only supposed to have wet dreams about girls though? Natuto's a boy! And an annoying hyper bratty one too!' _Gaara growled.

_'Maybe it's because kyuubi's a girl, and who cares if Naruto's a boy? Boy or girl, it's the same thing. Also, he handed your ass to you when he fought you during the exams. Maybe if you got some more action you would be less grumpy and homicidal, huh?' _thought Shukaku Smugly. _'I wouldn't mind either, Kyuubi is pretty hot…" _

"_...Pervert."_

"_Takes one to know one kid."_

"_Shut up. Also, the reason I'm so homicidal and grumpy is because you won't let me fucking sleep! You're the reason everyone hates me too!"_

"_I don't think that Naruto kid hates you. He's probably the only one who understands what you went through... Not that I care."_

"… _You don't think he hates me?"_

"_If you to find out you should see him again, gaki."_

"…_Fine. I'll go with Temari-nee and Kankuro-baka."_

_

* * *

_

Naruto was thinking about Gaara. _'I wonder how he's been since I beat him during the exams. I hope I pounded some sense into his homicidal ass. Wonder if Shukaku's still bothering him? Wait, why am I thinking about him? Other than the fact that he's a jinchuuriki too, we're so different. Guess I'm thinking 'bout him because I want to forget about Sasuke… dammit, why did you have to betray everyone, you bastard! Gaara had someone who betrayed him too, right? I wonder if that's why he's so homicidal… Gah, I'm thinking about him again! Why I wonder…'_

'_Duh, it's because Gaara's damn sexy! Who wouldn't think about him? Shukaku's not bad either…"_

'_Kyuubi?'_

'_Who do you think it is? The Ramen God?'_

'_Really, you're the Ramen God?'_

'…_How did I get trapped in such an idiot?'_

'_Oh, it is you… Wait, what do you mean Gaara's sexy!"_

"_You never noticed? Baka! Isn't it obvious? The way his hair is red like blood… his intense emerald eyes… Hell, even the "Ai" symbol on his forehead looks sexy!'_

'… _Well… Now that you mention it… No! Bad thoughts, bad thoughts! Anyway, it's not like I'll ever see him again. He's probably forgotten about me, even if I did kick his ass.'_

'_I wouldn't' be too sure about that, kit."_

_

* * *

_  
TBC

I will try to update tomorrow! This is just foreplay so far. Next chapter, Gaara and his siblings arrive! What will Naruto say? What will Gaara do? Wait and see!

Please review. Flames... will be flamed!. Constructive criticism welcomed!


	2. Chapter 2

This is Tina-chan again! Okay, here's the next chapter! I've only gotten one review so far… but that's okay, I will persevere! 

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I would like to own Gaara though. -smirk-

Warnings: Shounen-ai. Don't like, don't read.

* * *

Chapter Two 

Temari was worried about Gaara. He had improved a lot since the chuunin exam, but he was still unstable. She thought of him more as a little brother than a demon carrier now, and she knew Kankuro did too. Gaara had started to treat them more like siblings than minions under his command. The first time Gaara called her Temari-neesan she almost fainted from shock. She had to admit she liked it though… and now Gaara was going back to Konoha. Back to the place were he had fought Uzumaki Naruto. What Temari wondered was why. Did Gaara want revenge, or was he going for other reasons? She decided to be brave and ask him. "Anou, Gaara-totou? Why do you want to go back to Konoha?"

"…"

"Are you going to fight Uzumaki again?"

"…No"

"Then why?"

Throughout this exchange Kankuro had been looking between Temari and Gaara fearfully, wondering how Gaara was going to react. Gaara kept on his usual emotionless mask, so neither of his siblings could see what he was thinking or feeling. When Gaara didn't answer her, Temari decided to drop it. She would try to find out again later.

* * *

Naruto was waiting for Iruka at Ichiraku. He had been hanging out with his former teacher a lot since he came back from training with Jiraiya. Naruto still couldn't believe that he had spent two years with that Hentai. He hoped Jiraiya hadn't rubbed off on him… 

"Naruto!"

Speaking of perverts…

"Hi Kakashi-sensei!" said Naruto grinning. "What brings you here?"

"I'm here to see my former student of course! Who are you waiting for?" said Kakashi, curving his eye happily.

"Well, actually I'm waiting for-"

"Naruto-kun!"

Umino Iruka came running up the path, panting slightly.

"Sorry I'm late, some of the students were causing trouble and I- Oh, hello Kakashi-sensei, what brings you here?"

Kakashi smirked underneath his mask. Iruka's cheeks were red from running, and the jounin thought that it looked so cute… Iruka noticed Kakashi staring at him and turned even redder, causing the scar on his nose to stand out more. It made him look cutely dolphin like...

"Um, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi snapped back into reality. Suddenly he remembered exactly why he had come to see Naruto.

"Actually I just came to tell Naruto that Gaara no Sabaku and his siblings are coming to Konoha for vacation."

"WHAT?" yelled Naruto and Iruka simultaneously. Inwardly Naruto was wondering why. Was Gaara coming to see him? Or was he really just coming for vacation?

'_I think that he's coming to see you, kit.'_ thought Kyuubi with amusement.

'_What? What should I say to him? He tried to kill everyone! What if he's still the same? What if he tries to fight me?'_

'_Everyone can change kit. Especially after meeting you. Look at Neji for instance, he's a lot nicer to Hinata after you beat some sense into him. Hell, even I don't feel like killing anymore, and its all thanks to you.'_

'_Really, you don't feel like killing anymore? Does that mean that I could let you out?'_

'_No, it doesn't. If you let me out, hell yeah I would kill someone. I meant that I wouldn't make you kill anyone. Also, I look forward to seeing Shukaku again…'_

'_Ooooo, the big bad Kyuubi has a crush on Shukaku, ne?'_

'_Shut up! Also, you might want to snap back into reality, your friends are staring at you.'_

"Naruto! Are you alright?"

Naruto looked around, dazed. Iruka was looking extremely worried, and even Kakashi had lifted an eyebrow in puzzlement. Oops. Naruto smiled at his former sensei.

"I'm okay Iruka-sensei. Come on, let's get some ramen!"

Naruto rushed into Ichiraku and immediately ordered three bowls of miso ramen. Iruka looked at him fondly and shook his head. Then he remembered Kakashi.

"Anou, would you like to join us Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi grinned underneath his mask. Lunch with Iruka-sensei? Of course!

"Arigato Iruka sensei, I would love to join you." Said Kakashi cheerily. He then followed Iruka into the restaurant.

* * *

Naruto whistled cheerfully on his way back from Ichiraku. It had been fun to talk to Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei! Suddenly Naruto stopped. A little ways away stood a familiar red haired figure with a huge gourd strapped on his back. Sensing eyes on him, the figure turned to reveal black rimmed green eyes narrowed in an icy glare. 

"Gaara"

The name escaped Naruto's lips as he looked at the other jinchuuriki. Gaara had grown taller since their match, taller than him, which slightly irked the blonde, but Naruto had to admit that Gaara looked… well sexy, just like Kyuubi said. His heartbeat increased, and he could feel a blush rising to his cheeks. Suddenly Gaara was in front of him. Naruto started and took a step back.

"...Uzumaki Naruto."

Gaara stared intently into his eyes. Gaara had beautiful eyes, even if they were completely devoid of any emotion…

"Um, hi Gaara. Kakashi told me that you would be coming. Did you just get here?"

Naruto wondered how he could sound so much like his usual self when his heart was pounding in his chest and all he could think about was how beautiful Gaara looked, even if his heart was made of ice.

"I… want to talk to you."

Naruto stared at Gaara in astonishment. He wanted to talk? About what? Inside, Naruto did want to talk to Gaara. He knew that Gaara's life was similar to his own, they had both been shunned and feared by the villagers and both had demons in them that they could not control… If Gaara wanted to talk then hell yes Naruto would talk to him.

"Um, okay. Let's go the forest!"

Naruto and Gaara left, neither knowing that they had been observed and overheard by two mysterious figures…

* * *

"So what did you want to talk about, Gaara?" 

Gaara stared at Naruto, wondering what to say. What did he want to talk about? He looked Naruto over to buy time. Naruto had grown a little since the exams, but Gaara was taller. He still had that gravity defying blonde hair, and his eyes were impossibly blue… He seemed to have bulked up a bit, probably from extra training or something. All in all, he looked… cute? Gaara almost slapped himself. Gaara of the sand had just thought that something was cute. Cute should not even be in his vocabulary! What the fuck…

"Gaara? Hey, are you okay?"

Gaara didn't respond to Naruto's question, still in shock from thinking the word "cute." Naruto pouted. First Gaara shows up after three years looking all sexy, and then he tells him that he needs to talk, and now he ignores him? Naruto didn't like that… So on a sudden insane impulse, he glomped Gaara.

Gaara was thrown off balance when he felt arms encircle his waist. He crashed to the ground and looked down to find Naruto attached to his waist, looking surprised. Gaara briefly wondered why his sand had not protected him from Naruto's assault but was distracted when a mischievous smile appeared on Naruto's face.

"Nyah Nyah, I just caught the great Gaara no Sabaku by surprise! That's what you get for ignoring me!"

"…Let go. NOW."

Gaara's face was as emotionless as always but his voice betrayed his feelings. Was Gaara… embarrassed? Naruto realized that he didn't want to let Gaara go. Hugging Gaara was… nice.

'_Maybe that Kyuubi-baka was right about something…" _

Naruto didn't want to let go. So he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"No."

"…let go."

"NO!"

"Let go before I-"

"Before you what?"

Naruto didn't know that Gaara was trying to hold back a blush. Having Naruto cling to him was causing some unwanted reactions in his body. Gaara wanted… He wanted…

'_Damn hormones.'_

Gaara kissed Naruto. It was a quick kiss, nothing more than a peck on the lips, but he still kissed him. There was a pause. Naruto brought one of his hands to his lips, the other still around Gaara's waist.

_'Gaara just... should I...?'_

The kitsune looked at the attractive boy beneath him.

_'...yep.'_

Naruto kissed Gaara back. The only difference was that Naruto flung both of his arms around Gaara's neck and pressed hard. Then he broke off to see the others reaction. Gaara... had turned into stone.

"AAAAAAAH, Gaara are you alright?"

* * *

Neither Naruto nor Gaara had noticed two figures watching them from a tree. Temari and Sakura stared at each other starry eyed. 

"...Next time, we bring cameras."

TBC

* * *

Yeah, that was the second chapter. Poor Gaara seems overwhelmed… and what did Temari mean by cameras? -smirk- Kakashi seems to be eyeing Iruka… I'll have more KakaIru next chapter okay? Next chapter, what does Naruto do with an unresponsive Gaara? Temari and Sakura gang up? Kyuubi has a talk with Shukaku? Wait and see! 

See the little review button below? It's your friend. Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Huge thank you to Logan21, He is the only one who reviews! -cries- Oh well, as long as I have one reader I shall continue! Okay, some Kyuu/Shuka in this chapter. Hope I get more reviews… Thank you Logan21! -hugs him-

* * *

Chapter 3 

Gaara of the sand does not faint. He just doesn't. What happens is that all of his senses shut down leaving him immobile and unresponsive. Pretty much, he turns into a huge chunk of living stone. When Naruto kissed him, this is exactly what happened.

'_So where the hell am I now?'_

Gaara looked at his surroundings. He was in a small apartment that would have been quite pleasant had there not been empty ramen cups all over the ground. He stood up and immediately someone appeared and glomped him, knocking him down once again. He looked down to see Naruto looking at him with a worried expression.

"YouwentallweirdandIknewyoudidn'tpassoutbecauseyoureyeswereopenandyouwouldn'trespondsoItookyouherebecauseIdidn'tknowwhereyoulivedandareyouokay?"

Gaara was amazed that Naruto could say all of that in one breath without fainting.

"…I'm fine."

Naruto gave a sigh of relief and buried his head into Gaara's chest.

_'Wait, Gaara's chest?'_

Naruto just realized that he was clinging onto the sand nin. Why wasn't Gaara trying to kill him for invading his personal space? Where was his trusty sand? Wait, why did Gaara kiss him? And why did he kiss him back?

'_You kissed him back because you like him baka. Wish the kiss had more action though…'_

'_Kyuubi! How did you know about that!'_

'_I live inside you remember? Baka.'_

'_Anou, you didn't have to look! Wait, was it you who made me kiss Gaara?'_

'_Sorry kit, that was all you. I was watching the show with Shukaku. You need to learn how to kiss better…'_

'_Wait, does that mean you escaped!'_

'_No, my mind left your mind and assumed a spirit like form. So technically I'm still inside you, but I can separate my spirit. I'm harmless in that state, all I can do is observe.'_

'_Wow, that's pretty cool. _

Gaara was wondering why Naruto was being so silent. The kitsune still had his head buried in his chest… not that Gaara minded. Gaara let his hand run through Naruto's golden hair.

'_It's so soft… like his lips. I can't believe I made the first move… But I'm glad that Naruto responded.'_

'_Yeah, and you reacted like a typical virgin. I thought you would be manlier'_

'_Shut up Shukaku, he caught me by surprise okay?'_

'_Yeah yeah, whatever. Your kissing sucks too! You kiss like a first grader! Even Uzumaki did better, and he had no idea what he was doing either! You're such a wuss.'_

'…_I have a sudden urge to kill. Guess who's going to die?'_

'_Hey, it's not my fault! Don't worry; you'll become better with practice. Kyuubi and I will be watching you guys!'_

'_...Hentai.'_

'_Heh, you're one too. Weren't you the one that had the wet dream? Widdle Gaara's growing up…'_

'_Fuck you.'_

'_Shouldn't you be saving that for Uzumaki?'_

'_Shut up!"_

"Gaara?"

Gaara looked down at Naruto again. Naruto was shocked to see anger in his vibrant green eyes.

"Gaara, are you mad at me?"

"…No."

"Then why do you look angry?"

"…Shukaku is going to fucking die"

"Shukaku? That's your demon right? Hey, can you talk to 'im in your mind? I can talk to Kyuubi! Is Shukaku a hentai? Kyuubi says that they were both spying on us! Hey, what do you like to do? Let's talk now,I bet we have a lot in common!

So Naruto and Gaara talked about everything. Demons, life, hormones, ramen, killing, blood, sand, Sasuke, perverted sensei, and everything else. The two quickly became friends. Meanwhile, back in the forest…

* * *

Sakura and Temari were secretly yaoi fangirls. They both horded the books and manga, and looked up yaoi fan art and stories on the internet. Yes, they loved it, and they just found a real live yaoi romance in the works! Even better, it was between two people that both of them knew! Temari was in fan girl heaven. Her little brother was growing up, that was for sure. Sakura was also happy. Who knew that Naruto had it in him? 

"Awww, I can't believe that otouto made the first move! His first kiss too!"

"Yeah, and Naruto-kun responded, just like in a manga! I can't believe that I didn't bring my camera!"

"Do you think that we could take pictures with out them noticing?"

"Hmm, you have a point. I know! I'll ask Kakashi sensei to take some! I know that he would just love this!"

"Kakashi is into this stuff too?"

"Naw, he'd just use it to black mail Naruto. But he is gay!"

"Really?"

"Yep! And if we set him up with his crush then we get double the action!"

"What are we waiting for?"

With that, the two fan girls set out to find Kakashi. Meanwhile, Kyuubi and Shukaku were talking to each other as well.

* * *

'_Looks like our two wards are growing up; don't you think so Shukaku-san?'_

'_Hai, they sure are. And please, just call me Shukaku.'_

'_Alright Shukaku. You can call me Kyuubi too on one condition.'_

'_A condition? What condition?'_

'_Let me bite you.'_

'_My my Kyuubi-san, aren't you moving rather fast?'_

'_Do you think so?'_

'_Even if you weren't purring at me seductively, I would still have to say no.'_

'_Then we're agreed…"_

'_Gaara-kun's in trouble if any of you rubbed off on Naruto…'_

'_We'll just have to wait and see ne?_

_

* * *

_  
"Kakashi sensei!"

Kakashi looked up from his Icha Icha paradise book to see Sakura and another blonde haired girl run up the path toward him.

"Hello Sakura-chan. Is there something I can do for you? Or did you just feel like visiting your favorite sensei to thank him for being such a great teacher?"

Sakura sweat dropped. Then she looked at Kakashi seriously. Very seriously.

"Actually, Temari-san and I have a proposition for you."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. It must be pretty important to have Sakura ask so seriously. And to ask him of all people.

"Go on."

"If you get pictures of Gaara and Naruto for us then we'll help set you up with Iruka-sensei!"

Kakashi did the anime fall. That was something he did not expect. Wait, what about Gaara and Naruto? And how in the name of Konoha did Sakura know that he had a crush on Iruka?

"Why do you want pictures of Naruto and Gaara? And what makes you think that I like Iruka-sensei?"

Sakura sighed impatiently.

"Gaara and Naruto kissed each other and Temari and I want pictures of it. We want you to take them since you can do it without getting caught. And I know that you like Iruka because I saw you checking him out that one time with your sharingan eye!"

Kakashi stared at her in amazement. So Gaara and Naruto liked each other huh? Kakashi suddenly grinned underneath his mask. That could be interesting… but he didn't want any help with Iruka. He would do that himself.

"Alright girls, I'll get the pictures for you if you don't tell Iruka that I like him, okay?"

Temari and Sakura grinned at each other then at Kakashi.

"Deal!"

* * *

"I have to go back to Temari-nee and Kankuro now." 

Naruto felt sad. He had really bonded with Gaara, and he didn't want him to go.

"I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"...Hai."

Naruto hugged Gaara as hard as he could. Gaara stiffened. He still wasn't used to the whole 'hugging' thing. It was rather nice though… Gaara hesitantly put his arms around Naruto as well. They stayed like that for a while, then Gaara left.

'_That was the most that I ever talked in my life. Naruto looks at me with out any hatred or judgement, and he can even touch me without being repulsed… and I let him touch me. The sand doesn't do anything. I... I like this feeling.'_

When Gaara reached the place where he was staying with his siblings Temari was waiting for him. She smiled.

"Gaara-touto! Did you have fun today?"

Gaara looked at Temari for probably the first time as a sister. Naruto had talked about having people who you cared about, and who cared about you. Did Temari see him as a little brother, or a monster? For the first time in his life, Gaara wanted Temari to love him as a little brother.

'_Naruto must be rubbing off on me…'_

"Neesan"

"Hai?"

"…I care about you. Don't forget that."

Temari almost fainted from shock. Gaara was looking at her, and it wasn't his usual death glare. He looked at her with longing, with need. Was he too afraid to say the word love? For the first time Temari saw her little brother in Gaara. She didn't see a vicious killer, she saw a lost little boy looking for a love that he had never had from his family. Her heart broke. She hugged him.

"I love you otouto. If you ever need to talk to someone I'm here for you, okay?"

Gaara nodded and closed his eyes as he savored the first real hug that he had ever gotten from his neesan.

'_Maybe love is not such a bad thing after all.'_

TBC

* * *

Haha, I got two chapters out in one day! Thank you Logan21, you give me my inspiration for writing! Gaara gets closer to his neesan in this chapter… so cute! I'll try to put in more KakaIru next chapter. I know I promised it last chapter, but things came up. Oh yeah, here's some translations for people, some are for this chapter and some are for future reference. If they're not accurate, please tell me and i'll fix them. 

Otouto- little brother

Aishiteru- I love you (used for lovers)

Hai-yes

Neesan- big sister

Sensei- teacher

hentai- pervert

Baka- stupid, idiot

Dobe- dead last

Nani- what

san- honorific

kun- honorific

anou- hey

yaoi- boy on boy

Shounen-ai- boy love

Reviewing is a good thing, it makes people update faster.

Please Review!


	4. Chapter 4

Tina-chan here! YAAAAAY! I finally got more reviews! Thank you! -glomps reviewers- As promised, there will be more KakaIru in this chapter! Btw, if anyone wants other pairings tell me and I will see what I can do. Hope you like the chapter! And now we have Gaara for a disclaimer!

Gaara: ...

Tina-chan: Um, Gaara?

Gaara: -glare-

Tina-chan: -glares back- If you don't I'll make Kankuro kiss Naruto!

Gaara: -death glare- … Tina-chan does not own Naruto.

Tina-chan: Thank you Gaara-kun!

Warnings: Shounen-ai. Don't like, don't read.

* * *

The next day, Kakashi went to Iruka's house. Iruka was surprised to see Kakashi on his doorstep. Kakashi did his eye smile. 

"Ohayo Iruka-sensei!"

"Ohayo Kakashi-sensei, what brings you here?"

"It's about Naruto actually."

"Nani? Is he alright? Did something happen to him?"

"Seems that he's dating Sabaku no Gaara."

Iruka went into shock. After a couple of minutes, Kakashi waved his hand in front of Iruka's face. Still no response.

"Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka snapped out of it shaking his head. His Naruto-kun was dating Sabaku no Gaara? Heck, his Naruto-kun was dating period? Why didn't Naruto tell him? Did he think that he would be disgusted because Gaara was a boy? All Iruka wanted was for him to be happy…

"Is it because Gaara's a boy?"

Iruka looked at Kakashi, surprised.

"No. I don't care about that."

Kakashi smirked underneath his mask. Iruka didn't care, huh? Well that definitely worked to his advantage…

"I'm just worried that Naruto will… well, you know how teenage boys get with their hormones!"

Iruka turned bright red at this statement and looked at the ground. Kakashi found that just adorable.

'_How the hell can a grown man be so kawaii…" _

"Well if you're so worried Iruka-sensei, would you like to spy on them with me?"

"NANI?"

"I'm going to take pictures of them together for Sakura and Temari."

Kakashi narrowly dodged the shuriken thrown at his head.

"HENTAI! And why would Sakura-chan want pictures of that!"

"Come on, aren't you curious too? How the relationship will work out?"

"I'm not a hentai like you!"

"Aw, you know you love me anyway."

Iruka's face turned about fifty shades of red.

"Who would like you? You always cover up your face and read those perverted books and you always tease people and…"

"Actually, I like teasing you the best."

"Why!"

Kakashi did his eye smile.

"Because I like you."

Quick as lightning Kakashi hugged Iruka, kissed him on the cheek through his mask, then hopped onto the nearest rooftop.

"If you want to join me in spying, I wouldn't mind at all Iruka-sensei."

Kakashi left a bright red Iruka standing in his doorway, wondering what this strange feeling he had was…

* * *

Unbeknownst to both men, they had been watched! Temari hugged her high resolution digital camcorder to her chest and heaved a happy sigh. Sakura was almost comatose from happiness. 

"… I love Konoha."

"It is great, isn't it?"

"Lets see if we can spy on Kakashi and Iruka spying on Naruto and Gaara later."

Both girls laughed evilly and Sakura ran home to get her brand new digital camera.

TBC

* * *

Tina-chan: Yeah, it's kind of a short chapter but you did get some KakaIru! 

Kakashi: It was just a stupid peck on the cheek! I'm not inexperienced like Naruto and Gaara!

Tina-chan: -sweat drops- If you went were you wanted to go, poor Iruka-san would be comatose right about now…

Naruto: Hey, why weren't Gaara and I in this chapter?

Gaara: -glare-

Tina-chan: Don't worry, you'll be in the next chapter, and Gaara will have very uncontrollable urges… -laughs evilly-

Gaara: -smirk-

Naruto: -looks scared- Ummmm…

Vocab

Nani- what

Kawaii- cute

Ohayo- good morning

Please review! It makes me want to write more…


	5. Chapter 5

Yay, chapter 5! Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews people, you inspire me! Okay, there is more GaaNaru action in here to keep everyone happy! And here's Kyuubi for disclaimer!

Kyuubi: _Tina-chan does not own Naruto. I, however, own Shukaku's body and soul. Mwahahahahaha…_

Tina-chan: (sweat drops) …

Warnings: Turned on Gaara. Shounen-ai. Don't like, don't read.

* * *

Gaara was walking toward Naruto's apartment when he saw a pink haired girl rush past him leaving a trail of dust in her wake. 

'_Wonder why she's in such a hurry…'_

Gaara walked on. He was feeling good about what happened with Temari and was on his way to tell Naruto about the whole thing. He wanted something else too…

'_You had another 'dream' right?'_

'_None of your business Shukaku.'_

'_Someone's touchy today. What's wrong with it? It's normal. You seemed to be having a good time too…'_

'…_Were you in my dream?'_

'_Maybe.'_

'… _If you were alive I would kill you.'_

'_You should blow off some steam. By the way, you're about to knock your head on your boyfriends door, so you better snap out of it.'_

CLUNK! Gaara smacked his head against Naruto's door.

'_Fuck, that hurt! Where's the sand when I need it!'_

Naruto opened the door clad in a fishnet ninja shirt and pants to find Gaara sitting on his doorstep rubbing his forehead in pain. Naruto pulled Gaara in and set him on the couch.

"Gaara! Are you okay? What happened?"

"… I ran into the door."

Naruto looked at Gaara for a second then burst out laughing.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA, Gaara ran into a door!"

Gaara's eye twitched in annoyance. He just realized how stupid he must have looked, brought down by a door! He's fought fucking assassins for years without getting touched, and then he gets brought down by a door! Now Naruto knows and he won't shut up! Stupid blonde haired runt with his stupid orange outfit…

'_Wait, he's not wearing his jacket, just a fishnet shirt. Fishnet… so see through…'_

Gaara felt his hormones kick into overdrove at the sight of a fishnet clad Naruto laughing his head off.

'… _stupid hormones.'_

Naruto stopped laughing when he noticed the look that Gaara gave him. It made him feel excited, but also somewhat scared…

"Gaara?"

Gaara grabbed Naruto and kissed him again. Hard. Naruto could feel Gaara's tongue against his lips, asking for entrance. He let him in and could feel Gaara explore his mouth, making him feel slightly lightheaded… and damn, Gaara was sexy! If only he wasn't wearing a shirt… Due to lack of air, Gaara and Naruto broke apart. Naruto was suddenly feeling hot, so he took off his shirt. One look at that, and Gaara was on him again, kissing with more force and running his hands all over Naruto's chest and back… Then Gaara noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

'_Is that silver hair? … I see some brown too, dammit. I'll have to continue this later…'_

Gaara stopped, much to Naruto's disappointment.

"Wait Gaara! Why did you stop?"

Naruto looked at Gaara with watery chibi eyes.

'_That's so… no! Will not think that word…"_

"…Lets get some Ramen."

"REALLY! I LOVE YOU GAARA!"

Naruto glomped Gaara, almost making him blush. Thankfully for his reputation, Gaara subdued the urge.

"… Just put a shirt on first."

* * *

Umino Iruka was once again bright red. Kakashi was disappointed. 

"I wonder why they stopped…"

"… Why Naruto, why?"

"He's a teenager Iruka, what did you expect?"

"…"

"Don't look like that; I'll get you some ramen too okay?"

"Fine."

No one noticed Sakura and Temari watching them armed with a camcorder and a digital camera.

* * *

"Aww, Kakashi-sensei's taking Iruka-sensei out for ramen!" 

"Yeah, and otouto and Naruto are going too!"

"Temari-san? Who do think the seme's are going to be?"

"Definitely otouto and Kakashi. Naruto's not dominating enough, he's obvious uke material. I guess Iruka could go either way, but I see him as more of an uke."

"Yeah, that sounds about right"

"Feel up for some Ramen Sakura-chan?"

"Off to Ichiraku!"

"… Who knew that otouto could be so dominating?"

"Yeah, and Naruto was really forward removing his shirt like that!"

"KYAAAH!"

They both squealed happily and ran home to get special fan girl disguises so that they could spy on the two couples with out getting detected.

Meanwhile, Kyuubi and Shukaku were talking…

* * *

'_Gaara-kun seems to have a lot of energy. He certainly has little Naruto-chan turned on…'_

'_Yeah, and Gaara's finally starting to get the hang of kissing. I knew he had it in him.'_

'_You think he got that from you?"_

'_Maybe… wanna find out again?'_

'_What do you think? I'm a female in heat.'_

'_Thought so…'_

And so Kyuubi and Shukaku went off to do naughty things to each other animal demon style as two couples went off to eat ramen, and two obsessed fangirls ran out in disguises to spy on them. What fun.

TBC

* * *

Heehee, thank you to all of the nice reviewers! There was more GaaNaru in this chapter… if anyone has something that they want to see in the plot like pairings or more 

(coughcough) "stuff," just email me! Next chapter everyone goes to Ichiraku! Kakashi and Iruka spy on Gaara and Naruto and Temari and Sakura spy on all of them! See you next chapter!

Kakashi: How come Gaara got a real kiss and I didn't?

Tina-chan: You're too perverted, you would make me write a lemon!

Kakashi: What's wrong with a lemon!

Tina-chan: Nothing, I just suck at writing them! Stop complaining or I set Iruka up with Itachi!

Kakashi: … I'll be quiet now.

Tina-chan: (evil grin) I knew you'd see things my way…

Vocab

Seme- dominating force in relationship (cough the person on top cough)

Uke- other force in relationship (cough bottom person cough)

Please review! Reviews are good things…


	6. Chapter 6

I love my reviewers, they are all so nice! (glomps all the reviewers) Thank you! Okay, Lee will be in this chapter since someone suggested it. I'm going to try my best to capture the essence of Lee, so don't kill me okay Lee fans? (cowers in fright from angry Lee fans) Now I have Naruto as the disclaimer!

Naruto: Tina-chan does not own Naruto. If she did I would be in a foursome with Gaara, Neji and Sasuke.

Gaara: (glares at authoress and points to Naruto) … MINE.

Tina-chan: (sees sand gathering…) …yours.

Gaara: (smirk)

Warnings: Lots of Ramen and Shounen-ai

* * *

Gaara and Naruto were on their way to Ichiraku when they ran into the one and only Rock Lee. Lee ran up to them and struck his "nice-guy" pose. 

"Gaara, my worthy opponent! What brings you to noble Konoha to fraternize with its youth? Did you perhaps come for a rematch? Yosh! I would if I were not fighting my ultimate rival Neji today! Perhaps later, and remember to stay true to the power of YOUTH! YOSH!"

With that Lee ran to the forest to have his match with Neji. Naruto and Gaara sweat dropped.

"…That was random, huh Gaara?"

"…yes"

They reached Ichiraku and Naruto immediately ordered three bowls of miso ramen. Gaara, who had never really had ramen before, decided to order what Naruto ordered. He however only ordered one bowl. Naruto immediately dragged Gaara into a booth and started chattering away non stop while Gaara nodded to show he was still paying attention and even contributed a sentence or two when needed. Neither of them noticed Kakashi and Iruka enter, order two bowls of ramen, and sit down in another booth. Also no one noticed two strange people in trench coats with hoods take a seat at the bar and also order ramen. The owner was happy; he was getting a lot of business today…

* * *

"Do you like teaching at the academy Iruka-sensei? I heard that all of the kids love you and think that you're a great teacher." 

Iruka was still somewhat dejected about Naruto's sudden descent into puberty and didn't hear Kakashi's question. Kakashi didn't like being ignored, so of course he had to reach across the table and yank Iruka's ponytail. This extremely immature act shocked Iruka out of his thoughts. Did Konoha's famous copy-nin just yank his hair to get his attention? Not even Naruto did that! Kakashi was greatly amused by the look of shock on Iruka's face.

"You have long hair Iruka-sensei. Why do you always keep it up?"

"… It always gets in my face."

"So, I think that it would look pretty down."

Iruka turned red. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately… And Kakashi was always the cause of it. Why the hell did the jounin like to tease him so much? And he kissed him too…

"Anou, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hai Iruka-kun?"

If possible, Iruka turned even redder. Kakashi had called him kun. He usually only called him sensei.

"Would you not joke about stuff like that!"

"Stuff like what?"

"Like liking me! You should only say that to people you really like!"

"Who said that I was joking?"

Iruka stared at him. Kakashi stared back at him, totally serious.

"… Why?"

"I don't know I'm just attracted to you."

"You don't even know me."

"Maybe it's time I started to get to know you."

"What if I don't let you?"

Kakashi smirked; he'd expected Iruka to say that…

"Maybe this will change your mind."

With that Kakashi leaned over the table and captured Iruka's lips in a kiss. Iuka realized that Kakashi was actually kissing him without the mask.

'_This is… nice.'_

Kakashi was happy.

'_Mmm, his lips are warm… I want to taste him, but I better go slow, leave him wanting more… hehe.'_

Kakashi quickly pulled his mask up and sat back down as Iruka tried to hide his blush behind his hands.

'_Gods, I'm shivering… did he affect me that much? Stupid Kakashi…'_

Iruka was about to say something when the food arrived. Kakashi did his eye smile.

"Lets eat!"

* * *

Naruto and Gaara had gotten their ramen and Naruto finished his first bowl in about ten seconds. Gaara had just started to eat when Naruto noticed something… 

"… Why are you looking at me like that Naruto?"

Naruto was looking at him with giant adoring chibi eyes.

"… You look like a panda!"

Gaara choked on his ramen.

"-coughcoughhack- ….panda?"

"Yeah, and you're so kawaii!"

Gaara didn't change his facial expression but inside he was mortified.

'_I should not be… that word! Can't panda's look anything else but that word!"_

Naruto saw anger and annoyance build in Gaara's eyes.

'_Uh oh, did I say something wrong?'_

'_Try telling him that he's a sexy panda instead of a kawaii one.'_

'_Kyuubi! When did you get here?'_

'_Not important. What, you don't think Gaara's sexy?'_

'_Of course he's sexy!'_

'_Then tell him that before he kills someone.'  
_

Naruto snapped back into reality and saw that Gaara had a vein pulsing in his forehead. Naruto thought that Gaara looked pretty sexy when he was angry…

"Actually, I change my mind."

"...What?"

Naruto did his fox grin.

"I think you look like a sexy panda."

Gaara thought about it.

'_I guess I can live with that…'_

"… Whatever."

* * *

Temari was about to blow their cover, so Sakura dragged her out of Ichiraku and into a deserted alley. Temari burst out in laughter. 

"HAHAHAHAHAHA, otouto's a sexy panda!"

Sakura had to admit that was pretty funny. She started to giggle.

"Heeheehee, but he does kind of look like a panda with those rings around his eyes…"

"Yeah, but a sexy one?"

"Yeah. Don't you love how Kakashi kissed Iruka when he was off guard?"

"You are making copies of that for me. I'm going to hang them on my wall!"

"Yeah, me too!"

Suddenly, Sakura got a thoughtful look on her face.

"Temari-chan?"

"Hai, Sakura-chan?"

"Have you taught Gaara about sex yet? Like, safe sex?"

"… Oh fuck."

"You didn't!"

"I taught him about puberty and hormones, I just never got to sex and stuff!"

"Well, it's about time you told him right? I mean, he already has a boyfriend…"

"… Otouto's going to kill me for this…"

TBC

* * *

Next chapter, Temari teaches Gaara sex ed.? Does Gaara find out that the girls have been spying on him? Iruka gets sick? Kyuubi tells Naruto about sex? Don't worry; there won't be anything in here that you didn't learn in 8th grade sex ed., so I won't up the rating. Until next chapter! 

Temari: Do I really have to do this? Why can't it be Kankuro!

Kankuro: Hell no.

Temari: … am I going to die?

Tina-chan: Actually, Gaara-kun might be grateful for the information…

Kankuro: Why? Does he have a girlfriend or something?

Temari and Tina-chan: …Not quite…

Please review! They make me happy, and happy authors update faster…


	7. Chapter 7

Finally, the sex ed. Chapter! This is going to be interesting… and when Iruka gets sick, who will care for him? (I know you know but oh well…) I can't thank people enough for their kind reviews and for pointing out certain inaccuracies! I am eternally grateful (bow)

Naruto: Yeah, but you're too lazy to actually correct the mistakes…

Tina-chan: Haha! Actually, I did correct them! -smug grin-

Sakura and Naruto: LIAR!

Tina-chan: Did so! -sticks out tongue-

Warnings: condoms and sex ed. stuff. Shounen-ai. Don't read if sex ed. freaked you out. You have been warned…

* * *

Gaara, now that he knew he was being watched, wanted to wait to find out who it was before he did anymore… "stuff" with Naruto. He said goodbye to a disappointed Naruto and went back to where he was staying with his siblings. He found Temari waiting for him, looking rather nervous. 

"Anou, Gaara-touto? I think that its time we had another 'talk.' You remember the last one we had right?"

"…Yes. What is it about now?"

Gaara glared at her, waiting for an answer. Temari took a deep breath to steady herself.

"It's time for... the sex talk." (dun dun duuuun)

Gaara never lost his glare.

"…Why?"

"Because its time you learned some things. You just sit down and I'm going to get some... stuff, okay?"

"…Fine."

Gaara sat down on a couch to wait for Temari. What was with the whole "sex talk" thing all of a sudden? Did Temari know about him and Naruto? And why do you have to learn about sex? Isn't it pretty strait forward?"

'_She's probably going to teach you about "safe" sex.'_

'_Sex is dangerous?'_

'_It can be. Especially if the person you're doing is a blood thirsty kitsune…'_

'…_You're kidding me. You and Kyuubi?'_

'_Duh, its not like there's an excess of animal demon spirits in the world.'_

'_So how is sex unsafe?'_

'_Well, you can get-_

"Gaara-touto? Um, are you daydreaming?"

Gaara opened his eyes.

"No, I was having a wet dream."

Temari stared. Was that… sarcasm? From Gaara? Weird… but she always did wonder how he could have wet dreams if he never slept… maybe he had wet _day_dreams? That could make sense… Little did Temari know that she was absolutely correct. She also found it kind of scary that Gaara actually sounded serious... She took a small item and placed it on the table between her and Gaara.

"Do you know what this is otouto?"

Gaara looked. It was a round shaped thing in a package, and it seemed to have some sort of liquid on it.

"…No"

"This is called a condom. It helps you have safer sex."

Gaara looked at the "condom" again. How could this little thing help him have safer sex?"

"…How?"

"Condoms help prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. They also help cut the risk of pregnancy. Condoms only help you have safer sex. The only safe way to have sex is to not have it at all. If you do have sex though, **ALWAYS** wear a condom, no matter what. It protects both you and your partner."

Gaara looked thoughtful.

"…What's a sexually transmitted disease?"

Temari suddenly looked grim. Suddenly Gaara felt scared… very scared.

"Actually, I have some pictures to show you, along with some descriptions…"

* * *

(Half an hour later…) 

Gaara walked out of the bathroom a little uneasily after having his first experience with vomit.

'_Those… pictures.'_

'…_I'm going to ask Kyuubi if she knows where we can get some condoms…'_

'_Did you know about… those things?'_

'_Yeah, but I didn't take it seriously until just now… ick.'_

Gaara returned to the couch his usual self, but a little green. Temari nodded her sympathy; STD's might be disgusting, but you had to learn about them.

"…Are there any more pictures?"

"No."

Inwardly Gaara heaved a sigh of relief.

'_Thank Kami…'_

Temari pulled a book out of a bag. It was titled, "_Safer sex for gay teens: Be safe, but still know how to give your partner pleasure."_

"This is for you otouto."

Gaara took the book and flipped through it.

'_Wow, this book has some good stuff kid. I think your boyfriend will be happy…'_

'…_Hmm, how to put on condoms… There are different kinds?'_

'_Looks like they come in different colors too… wonder if Kyuubi would like that…'_

Temari was happy that Gaara seemed to like the book. She just hoped he wouldn't ask…

"Temari, how did you know I was gay?"

Temari winced. She was really hoping that he wouldn't ask… and now he was glaring at her.

'_I need to think of a lie, quick!'_

"… Sakura-chan's sensei told me! You know, the guy with the mask and the silver hair?

'_Silver hair? He must have been the guy spying on us…'_

"…Why did he tell you?"

"Um, because he said that he thought I should know so that you wouldn't do anything irresponsible with Naruto-kun! He was Naruto's old teacher you know."

"Yes, Naruto told me about him."

Inwardly, Temari heaved a sigh of relief; Gaara didn't know that she and Sakura-chan were spying on him and Naruto.

"… Can I go now?"

"Yes, and don't forget to read your book, okay?"

"Hai."

* * *

Gaara was on his bed reading when he remembered something… 

'_Shukaku.'_

'_Yeah?'_

'_My sand hasn't been working lately; why is that?'_

'_It doesn't work against Uzumaki right?'_

'_Yes. Why?'_

'_Because you trust him. You know that he won't do anything bad to you, and you feel safe around him so the sand doesn't see any reason to activate.'_

'…_Is that love?'_

'_Only if you want it to be.'_

'…_Yes.'_

_

* * *

_  
After Gaara left, Naruto went into the forest and sat at the base of a big tree. He looked up at the sky and sighed.

'_I wonder why Gaara left me hanging… I mean, do ya usually make out with someone, stop, and don't continue? Is that normal?'_

'_Maybe he was being considerate.'_

'_Considerate of what? How is that being considerate?'_

'_Maybe he doesn't want to do something that could hurt you later.'_

'_Like what?'_

'_Like give you an STD or something.'_

'_What's an STD?'_

'…'

Certain images ran through Naruto's mind courtesy of Kyuubi. Naruto ran and threw up all of his previously eaten ramen into some bushes. He ran back to the tree and slumped against it, still very much disturbed by the images.

'_Those, kit, are STD's.'_

'_Gaara was trying to protect me from those?'_

'_I think his sister is teaching him about them now.'_

'…_He really was being considerate. That's so sweet of him..'_

'_You really like him huh?'_

'_Yeah, definitely!'_

'_To what extent though?'_

'_What do you mean to what extent?'_

'_Do you love him?'_

'…_love?'_

'_Think about first. You'll find out soon enough._

_

* * *

_  
Iruka wasn't feeling good. He was still upset and worried about Naruto, and now he had to deal with Kakashi along with everything else… After they had finished eating Kakashi had said goodbye and left before Iruka could say anything else to him. So, having nothing better to do Iruka set off for home. He felt slightly dizzy and his head hurt a lot. He felt hot too.

'_Good thing it's a Friday. Oh Kami, it's bad enough that Naruto has hit puberty, now I have to think about Kakashi too. What could he possibly like about a lowly chuunin? I don't have any famous blood lines or anything. He's the famous Konoha copy nin. I bet he's just playing me… So why did I like his kiss so much?'_

Thinking about the kiss just made Iruka feel hotter. His head was spinning too…

'_So hot…'_

_

* * *

_  
Kakashi caught Iruka before he hit the ground. He had pretended to leave Ichiraku but had actually stayed behind so that he could watch Iruka walk home. Kakashi felt Iruka's forehead.

'_Damn, he's burning up. Why didn't I notice sooner? He looks really stressed out too. Maybe I shouldn't have come on so strong… Damn, how can I be so stupid?'_

Kakashi sighed then picked up Iruka and disappeared in a poof of smoke. He reappeared at Iruka's apartment door, picked the lock with a kunai, and let himself in. Iruka's apartment was neat and Kakashi found Iruka's room easily. He took off Iruka's vest and hitae-ate and put him in his bed. Iruka was still burning up, so Kakashi went to get some cool water and a cloth.

'_Iruka must have collapsed from stress. Naruto's like a son to him, and now that Naruto's growing up he's going to worry… I'm just causing unwanted pressure. Maybe I should lay off when he gets better, at least until he gets over Naruto.'_

_

* * *

_  
Iruka felt something cool on his forehead. He wondered for a second how he could have possibly gotten into his bed. Did he faint? If so, how did he get back home? His question was answered when he heard a huge crash from his kitchen and someone uttering a swearword loudly.

'_Kakashi. Did he take me home? Wait, how did he know that I fainted? Was he following me? Is he some sort of stalker?'_

Iruka could smell something being cooked. Wait, Kakashi could cook? Who would have guessed… Iruka fleetingly wondered of the cooking was going to be edible when he heard footsteps coming toward the room. Kakashi appeared in the doorway and did his eye smile.

"Iruka sensei, you're awake! How do you feel?"

"…I'm hot."

Iruka was hot. Every time he looked at Kakashi he felt heat run through his body.

'_Why does he have this effect on me…?_

TBC

* * *

Hello once again readers! Okay, this is sort of a transition chapter so that I can start to develop the romances between both of our lovely couples. Gaara loves Naruto, but does Naruto love him back? Will Iruka figure out what this heat in his body is? There wasn't a lot of humor in this chapter, but I'll try to add more next time! As usual, huge thanks to all of my readers! 

Reviews equal inspiration. Inspiration equals new chapter.

Please Review!


	8. Chapter 8

Hello lovely readers! Okay, I'm going to try to put more humor in this chapter since the last one was less funny. Btw, in this fic Gaara owns regular clothes okay? Gaara in jeans… Yummy. Love all my faithful reviewers, you inspire me to continue! Iruka for disclaimer 'kay?

Iruka: Tina-chan does not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Kakashi: damn right she doesn't, cause you're mine!

Iruka: (turns fifty shades of red and starts playing with his fingers Hinata style)

Naruto: WHAT! Don't let that Hentai corrupt you Iruka-sensei!

Warnings: half naked Gaara. (you all know you want to see that…) Shounen-ai.

* * *

Naruto was thinking about what Kyuubi had said 

'_Do you love him?_

'…_Love?_

'_Think about it first. You'll find out soon enough.'_

Naruto really liked Gaara. But love? How do you know if you love someone? What's the difference between liking someone and loving someone?

'_I'm so confused… I need to talk to someone…'_

Naruto went to the only person who had ever truly cared about him: Umino Iruka.

* * *

Kakashi had gone to refresh the cloth for Iruka's forehead when he heard a knock at the door. He opened it to find Naruto, who looked rather surprised to see him. 

"Kakashi-sensei? What the hell are you doing here!"

"Iruka's sick so I'm taking care of him."

"Iruka's sick? What's wrong with 'im?"

"Seems that he just got sick from stress."

"Oh, well I need to talk to him."

Kakashi let Naruto in and watched him run to Iruka's room and shut the door.

'_Guess that means he doesn't want me to butt in… But he won't mind if I eavesdrop on them, right?'_

With that thought in mind Kakashi sneaked to Iruka's door.

* * *

"Iruka-sensei? I need to talk to you about something." 

At the tone of Naruto's voice Iruka sat up in bed and looked at his former pupil. Naruto looked so confused and Iruka was glad that he was the first person Naruto looked to for guidance. He motioned for Naruto to sit on the bed.

"Of course you can talk to me Naruto-kun. What's wrong?"

"… Iruka sensei, how do you know if you love someone? There's a person that I like a lot but I don't know if its love and I'm confused!"

Naruto dropped his head into his hands in frustration. Iruka pondered the question for a while.

"Well, I guess it depends on how that person makes you feel. Also, you need to figure out the true extent of your feeling for that person. If you do that you'll probably find the answer to your question. Spend time with the person you like and see how your feeling develop from there. Love is many things so you need to figure out what love is to you."

Naruto thought about this. How did Gaara make him feel? He liked it when Gaara kissed him, it made him feel all floaty inside. He liked Gaara as a person too, but Gaara had so many layers to him that it was hard to figure out what he was thinking.

'_Guess Iruka-sensei was right, I do need to spend more time with Gaara. Alright, that's what I'll do!'_

Suddenly Naruto grinned and hugged his teacher.

"Thanks Iruka-sensei, your advice helped a lot! Get better soon and tell me if Kakashi-sensei molests you or something, 'cause I'll kick his ass if he does! See ya!"

With that Naruto ran out the door and headed towards where Gaara was staying (Gaara had given him the address earlier). Iruka was left to ponder over what Naruto had said.

"_If Kakashi… molested me?"_

Iruka felt his face go twenty shades of red at the thought, and his body temperature rose again. He felt that maybe now it was time to take his own advice.

'_Okay, so Kakashi likes me. What do I think of him? He's a Hentai, he always teases me, he's a legendary jounin, he's a jerk, he's perverted, he has a sadistic streak, and he's perverted. Oh, and did I mention he's perverted? And he kissed me. Twice. How do I feel about that?"_

Iruka felt himself go even hotter than before.

"_Okay, every time I think of Kakashi I get all hot… and my head starts spinning… and I… I want him to touch me. Oh Kami, am I turning into a pervert like Kakashi!"_

While Iruka was angsting over this notion, Kakashi entered the room. Iruka turned towards him, his cheeks red from fever. Kakashi rushed over to him; Iruka really didn't look good.

"Iruka-kun, what's wrong! Did your fever go up?"

"Kakashi… I'm confused… hot…"

With that Iruka flung his arms around Kakashi and buried his head in his chest. Kakashi was surprised but also rather pleased.

'_I see you decided to take your own advice, huh sensei?'_

Kakashi willingly put his arms around Iruka and whispered soothing things into his ear. In no time Iruka was asleep in his arms. Kakashi looked at Iruka's sleeping face and smiled fondly at him. Then he noticed that Iruka still hadn't let him go…

'_Guess I have no choice but to sleep with him huh? I mean, I wouldn't want to wake him up… and he's the one holding onto me…'_

With that Kakashi got into bed with Iruka and brought the sleeping chuunin closer to him.

'_Maybe he'll let me molest him when he gets better!'_

With that happy thought in mind Kakashi let himself fall asleep with Iruka in his arms.

Then Sakura jumped in the window, took a picture, and jumped back out like she was never there.

* * *

Naruto knocked on the door of where Gaara was staying. The door was opened by a guy with purple and white paint on his face. 

"Hey, you're Gaara's older brother Kankuro right?"

"What the hell do you want shrimp?"

"I'm here to see Gaara."

"Why would he want to see you?"

Naruto was about to reply when a blonde haired girl punched Kankuro in the head viciously and knocked him out. Then she smiled sweetly at Naruto, still holding an unconscious Kankuro in one hand. Naruto thought it was one of the scariest things he had ever seen. This had to be Gaara's big sister Temari…

"Hello Naruto-kun! Gaara's upstairs in his room. Third door down the hall."

Naruto thanked Temari and went upstairs to Gaara's room. He opened the door and saw… Gaara. With no shirt on.

_Oh Kami, Gaara is sexy.'_

Gaara had a lean build and a thinly muscled chest. His skin was smooth and pale, and seemed to contrast perfectly with his blood red hair and black lined emerald eyes. Naruto did what any other Gaara obsessed person would do after seeing him half naked: He gaped soundlessly then fell in a dead faint after having a huge nose bleed.

* * *

Gaara looked up from changing to see Naruto in the doorway, looking at him with a dazed look on his face. Gaara was suddenly acutely aware that all he was wearing was pants. Then Naruto passed out with a bloody nose. 

'_Oh fuck, what happened to him?'_

'_I think you seriously turned him on.'_

'_Huh?'_

'_You idiot, It means he thinks you're attractive!'_

'_Yeah, but why did he pass out?'_

Shukaku wondered how someone so homicidal and dangerous that his own family was afraid of him could be so hopelessly naïve.

'_I will never understand you Gaara…'_

'_What's that supposed to mean Tanuki-baka?'_

'_Never mind. See what you can do for your boyfriend, he's a mess.'_

Gaara picked up Naruto easily and set him on his bed. Then he used a cloth to wipe the blood from Naruto's nose and his sand cleaned all traces of the blood off the floor. He noticed that Naruto's shirt was all bloody, so of course Gaara decided that he had to take Naruto's shirt off. And then he had to notice how enticing Naruto's tan skin was, and wonder how it would feel under his hands…

'_Iie, must push dirty thoughts away… He's asleep and helpless! I wouldn't stoop that low would I….? Must resist hormones…'_

Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it) Temari came through the door and saw her little brother sitting on his bed next to a half naked Naruto, and looking at him with a gaze that screamed, 'oh god, let me touch you.'

"Anou, Gaara-touto? Is something wrong with Naruto-kun?"

Gaara looked at his neesan, both relieved and angry at her for interrupting his thoughts.

"…He passed out."

"Oh dear! Maybe he should stay here tonight. We wouldn't want him passing out on his way home now would we? You wouldn't mind sharing with him would you otouto?"

'_Share a bed with Naruto? These fucking hormones are going to make me lose what last shreds of sanity I have left…'_

"Of course he could stay with Kankuro if you-"

"NO!"

Temari was secretly both amused and scared by the furious death glare that Gaara shot her. So otouto was protective of his Naruto-kun huh? Interesting…

"So it's settled! I'll leave now, looks like Naruto-kun's waking up!"

Temari practically skipped out of the room. This relationship was going to be interesting…

* * *

Naruto looked around groggily and stared right into a pair of black rimmed green eyes. Was it his imagination, or did he see concern flicker in those eyes for a second? If he did, it was soon replaced by a glare. 

"… you're staying here tonight."

"Nani?"

"…You fainted so you're staying here tonight."

"Demo…!"

Naruto tried to get up but Gaara put his hands on his shoulders. It was then Naruto noticed that Gaara was _still_ shirtless… and he was shirtless too.

'_What the hell?'_

Gaara noticed Naruto looking at himself.

"…your shirt was bloody so I took it off."

Naruto blushed. Gaara took his shirt off? Wait, Gaara still had his shirt off… his skin looked so smooth and pale…

Gaara was shocked when Naruto hugged him and buried his head in his neck. He could feel his bare skin pressing against Naruto's. Tan against white. It felt so warm… Gaara felt himself return the hug hesitantly, and bury his head in Naruto's hair.

'_He smells like ramen… does he have ramen scented shampoo or something? Mmm, his hair is soft…'_

Suddenly Kankuro walked in on them. Kankuro thought that he was suffering from temporary insanity when he saw _Gaara_, of all people, _shirtless_ and _hugging_ Uzumaki, who was also shirtless.

'_I think that Temari hit me too hard…'_

Then Gaara detached himself from Naruto and stalked over to his older brother, furious enough to kill.

"… Get out NOW. Or I'll kill you."

Kankuro ran for his life and slammed the door behind him (who wouldn't?). Gaara turned around to see Naruto holding his pillow and blushing.

"… Sorry about Kankuro, he's an idiot."

"Oh. Um, can I borrow a shirt Gaara? Since mine's all bloody…"

Gaara nodded and went to the closet to get a spare shirt for Naruto and a shirt for himself.

"Hey, you have jeans?"

Gaara turned to see Naruto with a strange look on his face.

"…Hai."

"Why don't you ever wear them? They would look good!"

"… Nani?"

"Um, well… I want ta see you wear them 'cause I bet they would look really good…"

Naruto mumbled this last part into the pillow which was lucky for Gaara because that statement made Gaara do something he had never done in his life: He blushed. Unluckily for Gaara, Naruto chose that moment to look up.

"…Gaara?"

Gaara turned away, even more embarrassed.

'_Fuck, he saw me…'_

"… Fine. I'll wear them tomorrow. But I get to choose what you wear."

Gaara turned around to see Naruto looking at him like he had sprouted horns or something. Then the look was gone, replaced by Naruto's usual cheery smile.

"YAY, I get to see Gaara in jeans!"

"…Whatever, just put the shirt on."

Gaara tossed Naruto his shirt and was about to turn away when he saw Kyuubi and Shukaku appear before him and Naruto in their spirit forms.

'_Hey brats, guess what?'_

Kyuubi's voice boomed through both of their minds.

'_Shukaku and I are going to go away for a while. You know what that means?'_

Naruto found his voice first.

"Uh, what?"

'_It means that Gaara can sleep for the first time in his life. Real sleep.'_

With that the two spirit demon beasts left. Gaara was shocked.

'_I can… sleep?'_

He put on his shirt in a daze and was shocked when Naruto pulled him onto the bed.

"Guess that means that you're sleeping with me tonight!"

With that Naruto pulled them both under the covers and wrapped his arms around Gaara's waist.

"Don't be scared ta sleep, 'kay Gaara? I'm going to watch you until ya go to sleep."

Gaara could feel his eyes drooping tiredly. For the first time in his life he was being allowed to sleep… and the one he loved was with him too.

'_This must be what people call happiness…'_

"...Arigato Naruto."

Then Gaara fell asleep. Naruto smiled at Gaara's sleeping form and fell asleep soon after.

'_Does wanting to see Gaara happy count as love?'_

_

* * *

_  
Temari peeked into Gaara's room and got the shock of her life. Gaara was sleeping. A real, authentic sleep, right in the arms of Naruto.

'_They look so cute together… I've never seen otouto look so peaceful. He and Naruto-kun belong to each other after all…'_

It was then that Temari decided that she would support her otouto's relationship with Naruto and try to get the boys to stay together… forever. Smiling, she snapped a few pictures of the sleeping couple and closed the door gently behind her. So Iruka slept in the arms of Kakashi and Gaara slept in the arms of Naruto. How kawaii….

TBC

* * *

Hee, I actually got some fluff in this! So cute… Gaara sleeps! Okay, next chapter the boys go through Gaara's wardrobe, and what will Iruka say when he wakes up? You will find out if you review the story. Please review. Even just a 'please update' helps. See you next time readers! 

Please review. It feeds my soul…


	9. Chapter 9

Hello readers! Thank you for all the lovely reviews, they feed my soul! Here's Kakashi for disclaimer!

Kakashi: Isn't it obvious that Tina-chan doesn't own Naruto?

Iruka: Now now, don't be mean Kakashi.

Tina-chan: Only Iruka-kun loves me! (glomps him)

Kakashi: (glare)

Warnings: You should know by now, right?

* * *

Gaara woke up feeling unusually warm. 

'…_Wait. Woke up? I sleep?'_

Then Gaara remembered what happened yesterday.

'_Naruto…'_

Naruto was now in Gaara's arms, but he still had his arms around Gaara's waist. Gaara smiled at his sleeping form.

'_Wow, wait. I'm smiling? WTF?'_

Just then Naruto decided to wake up and stare at Gaara. Gaara was smiling at him.

'… _Gaara's smiling. WTF? First he blushed, now he's smiling? Am I in some alternate universe or something?'_

Though he was shocked, Naruto had to admit that Gaara had a nice smile.

'_Bet I'm the first person he's ever smiled at too! Now I feel special…'_

Deciding to break the awkward silence, Naruto hugged Gaara.

"Did ya have a nice sleep Gaara?"

Gaara put on his usual emotionless expression.

"…yes."

Naruto looked at him and grinned.

"Okay, you have to wear jeans today okay!"

"…Fine."

Naruto dragged Gaara to the closet and opened it. Gaara sure had a lot of clothes for someone who wore the same outfit practically every day…

"Hey Gaara?"

"… What?"

"How come you have so many clothes if you never wear any of them?"

"…Temari-nee bought them for me."

"Alright, I changed my mind! You can pick out my outfit if I can pick out your entire outfit!"

Gaara agreed. What could be wrong with that?

* * *

(Ten minutes later…) 

"…No."

"What! You promised Gaara! You have too!"

"NO"

"Pleeeeeeeeeese? For me?"

Naruto gave him his best watery chibi eyes. Gaara would never admit it, but he was powerless against those eyes.

"…Okay."

* * *

Gaara came out of the bathroom wearing jeans, a shirt, and… A panda ear beanie. Naruto thought that it looked awesome. 

"Gaara, you look so cool! I love it!"

"…It's got ears."

"It looks really good on you!"

If Naruto thought it looked good, then Gaara would wear it. But the shirt…

"…Does the shirt look good too?"

"Yeah! It's definitely you!"

Gaara was wearing a green shirt with a panda on it. Everything he was wearing was from the Jadepanda© clothes company. Gaara wondered if Naruto liked pandas… The truth was Naruto did. Pandas reminded him of Gaara, so therefore, Naruto liked pandas.

"… My turn."

Naruto briefly wondered why Gaara wanted to pick out his clothes. Did Gaara even know how to match clothes to make an outfit? I mean, his sister had picked out his entire wardrobe...

* * *

Naruto later found himself in tan cargo shorts, an orange T-shirt with the word FOXY on the front, and a fox ear beanie. Gaara was very proud of himself. Naruto was rather shocked. 

'_Hey, this actually looks good. Maybe Gaara and I should always pick out each other's outfits!'_

The two boys walked downstairs. Gaara stopped dead when he smelled food in the air. Was Temari cooking?

"…Naruto."

"Yeah?"

"If we walk in there and Temari's cooking, RUN."

"…Um, why?"

"…Last time neesan tried to cook, Kankuro got food poisoning and ended up in the hospital for a week"

"How come you didn't get sick?"

Gaara smirked.

"I gave my food to the sand when Temari-nee wasn't looking."

* * *

The boys walked into the kitchen to see… Sakura cooking. They were, to say the least, surprised. 

"Sakura-chan? What are you doing here?"

Sakura looked at Naruto as if completely surprised to see him.

"Naruto! I didn't know you were here! Temari-chan invited me for breakfast."

Gaara briefly wondered when Temari had made a friend. Then he wondered why Temari had made a friend with someone who knew Naruto… Definitely suspicious. He was interrupted from his musings when Kankuro came into the kitchen. The first thing the puppet master did was stare at Gaara. He was shocked.

"Gaara, what are you wearing?"

Temari and Sakura both looked at Gaara and noticed his outfit for the first time. Gaara was wearing a panda beanie. Then they looked at Naruto and his fox beanie. Then they got identical evil glints in their eyes and brought out cameras.

"We need pictures!"

Before Gaara or Naruto could act, the crazed fangirls snapped pictures and hid their cameras. Gaara stared disbelievingly while Naruto looked slightly embarrassed.

"…Temari-nee!"

"Sakura-chan!"

The two girls smiled sweetly at them.

"Otouto, that outfit looks so good on you! Did you pick it out yourself?"

"What about you Naruto? Did you pick your own outfit also?"

"Uh, Gaara and I kinda picked each others outfits."

Naruto looked down, embarrassed. Gaara was glaring at Temari, Temari and Sakura were practically swooning from the cuteness of that idea, and Kankuro was in shock. Gaara decided to end the awkwardness.

"Let's eat, Naruto."

"Okay."

"Neesan? You might want to slap Kankuro-baka or something. He looks kind of dead."

So Gaara and Naruto ate breakfast while Temari and Sakura tried to snap Kankuro out of his shock.

* * *

Iruka felt warm. Not feverishly hot, but warm. He snuggled in closer to Kakashi. Wait, snuggled into Kakashi? 

'_Oh kami.'_

Iruka realized that he was in Kakashi's arms. He also realized that he liked being in Kakashi's arms. It made him feel warm and secure.

'_Guess I do like Kakashi… but I don't know how far that feeling goes. Guess I'm in the same boat as Naruto-kun. How is this going to end, I wonder…'_

He looked up to see Kakashi staring at him. Being Iruka, he of course had to blush and turn about fifty shades of red. Kakashi found that strangely endearing.

"Ohayo Iruka-sensei. Did you have a good sleep?"

"Hai. Anou… Kakashi-san?"

"Hai?"

"Anou, if you wanted, you could just call me Iruka. I mean, there's no need to be so formal, right?"

Kakashi was slightly surprised, but in a good way. Was Iruka hinting that he was interested now too? Kakashi did a mental victory dance in his head. Now he could truly start the courtship process…

"Alright, but only if you call me Kakashi."

Iruka, if possible, blushed even deeper.

"Hai, Kakashi. Um, could you let go now? I have to change…"

Kakashi did his eye smile and got out of the bed completely. He really didn't want to, but he had to give Iruka his space, right?

"I'll go start breakfast."

* * *

Gaara and Naruto had left the place where Gaara was staying and were walking down the street. The street was mostly empty since it was so early, and they didn't get a lot of strange looks. Then they ran into Lee and Neji. Lee stared at Gaara, speechless for probably the first time in his life. Neji stared at Naruto, and Gaara didn't like the look in the Hyuuga's eyes… Before he could comment however, Lee snapped out his surprise and went into his (if you could call it that) normal state. 

"Gaara! Are you trying to rediscover your youth by changing your outfit? The ears on your hat do seem to give you a youthful glow! Yosh! Maybe wearing a hat with ears would increase my youthful glow! I must share this information with Gai-sensei! Yosh!"

Lee ran off to find Gai, leaving Gaara and Naruto with Neji. Gaara glared at Neji out of reflex, and Neji glared back.

"… What are you looking at Hyuuga?"

"Hi Neji! How are you?"

Neji looked at the two, wondering why they were wearing animal ear beanies. He thought that Naruto looked rather endearing with his fox ear beanie, but Gaara looked… weird, to say the least.

"…I'm alright Naruto. Who gave you that stupid hat Gaara?"

"His hat isn't stupid Neji! For your information, I picked it out!"

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Neji and dragged Gaara away before he could kill the Hyuuga for calling his hat stupid and upsetting Naruto. They left a somewhat confused Neji wondering why Gaara had let Naruto pick his clothes…. Interesting.

* * *

Naruto dragged Gaara over to Iruka's house to see how the chuunin was doing. He knocked and Iruka answered the door, looking somewhat surprised to see the two together. Then he noticed what they were wearing. His eyes opened wide and he gaped at them. 

"Anou sa, anou sa, what's wrong Iruka-sensei?"

"Um, hello Naruto-kun, hello Gaara-kun. What brings you here?

"We wanted to see how you were doing. Is Kakashi-sensei still here?"

"Hai, he is. Come in, we just finished breakfast."

Naruto pulled Gaara into the apartment. They saw Kakashi sitting lazily on a couch reading his infamous book. Iruka saw him and glared.

"Kakashi! Please refrain from reading that disgusting book in front of kids!"

Kakashi immediately put his book away, and seemed to wilt when he saw Iruka glaring at him. Naruto briefly wondered when Iruka had started to refer Kakashi without the usual honorific of –san or –sensei. Gaara stood there feeling out of place, and Naruto noticed. He immediately slipped his hand into Gaara's and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Gaara seemed to relax slightly, and Naruto smiled at him. None of this went unnoticed by Kakashi.

"So are you two dating now?"

Gaara stiffened again and Naruto went a slight shade of pink. Iruka noticed this and raised an eyebrow.

"Is Gaara the person you were asking about Naruto?"

Naruto turned bright red and Gaara was curious as to what he had been asking his former teacher about.

"Are you two using protection?"

"NANI!"

Naruto immediately turned to Kakashi and started to scream at him for being a hentai, and that he should mind his own damn business. Gaara's ears had turned red, which was noticed by Iruka.

"Gaara-kun, have you two…?"

"…NO."

Iruka took one look at the expression Gaara had on his face and decided that he was telling the truth. At least he knew he didn't have to worry about the boys doing anything to one another… at least not yet. Naruto was still yelling at Kakashi, who seemed to be amused at the boy's outburst.

"By the way, nice hat you're wearing. Bet you didn't pick it out yourself, ne?"

"Nope, Gaara picked it out!"

Naruto said this with a hint of pride in his voice, and that made Gaara warm inside. No one had ever been proud of him before.

"Aw, how sweet. Hey, would you let me pick out your clothes too Iruka?"

Iruka turned bright red.

"Why would Iruka-sensei let you pick out his clothes? You're a Hentai!"

"How can you be so cruel to your sensei Naruto?"

"Hentai!"

Gaara was getting bored, so he pinched Naruto on the arm. Naruto stopped arguing with Kakashi to stare at him.

"Gaara?"

"… I'm bored. Let's go do something."

"Okay! Let's walk around some more! Hey Kakashi, don't you have anything better to do than hang around Iruka-sensei?"

"It's okay Naruto-kun, we were just going out."

"NANI!"

Iruka blushed when he realized how that must have sounded.

"Um, we were just going to wander around and stuff…"

Iruka trailed off and blushed again. Naruto stared at him before deciding to pry later. He pulled Gaara through the door once again.

"Let's go!"

TBC

* * *

Alright, next chapter Gaara and Naruto wander around! There will be fangirls involved, and they're not Sakura and Temari... If any of you guys want to see anything else in the chapter, email me quick! Probably some more action between both of our lovely pairs, you'll have to wait and see! 

Please don't be afraid to offer ideas or advice, I appreciate comments from all of my readers! See you next chapter!

Please review! It feeds my soul…


	10. Chapter 10

Okay, thanks to the brilliant idea of **Jess Anime**, Sasuke will finally be making an appearance! Don't ask me where he came from or where he's been, he's just appearing, okay? Just to warn you, he will evil in this fic… I like SasuNaru but personally I think that Sasuke's a bastard. Thanks for all the awesome reviews, and enjoy the next chapter! Now we have Sakura for a disclaimer!

Sakura: Tina-chan does not own Naruto… Hey, Lee, what do you have on your head?

Lee: Do you like it Sakura-chan? It increases the glow of my youth! (turns to show off his new floppy dog ear beanie)

Gai: (wearing the same beanie)… Yes Lee, It does! (they embrace)

Gaara: … I can't believe I fought such an idiot…

Warnings: Crazed fangirls and jealous bishies.

* * *

Naruto and Gaara wandered down the street holding hands. Naruto was telling Gaara about this place and that place, and random things about different people. Gaara just listened contentedly. He was with Naruto, and he was holding his hand. Nothing could ruin his mood now… 

"GAARA-SAMA!"

...Except for that. Gaara looked up in horror to see his absolute worst fear: Suna fangirls. Naruto looked at the approaching girls with a perplexed look on his face. Who were they and what were they calling HIS Gaara?

'_Wait, my Gaara? Where the hell did that thought come from?'_

Naruto was thrown out of his musings when Gaara attempted to hide behind him.

"…Fangirls are scary. You're not allowed to kill them, and they try to touch you…"

Gaara shivered at the thought and hid his face in Naruto's shoulder. Naruto was pissed. Who did these fangirls think they were? No one could touch Gaara but him! Those bitches should die! Said bitches walked in front of the two and glared at Naruto.

"Hey twerp! Get away from Gaara-sama!"

Naruto glared back at them.

"Why should I bitches?"

"Because you're defiling his Kami-ness with your ugly face!"

Gaara looked up to glare fiercely at the stupid fangirls. How dare they insult his Naruto-kun?

"… Go away. If you call Naruto ugly ever again, I'll kill you."

The fangirls gulped at the homicidal expression on Gaara's face. They weren't about to go away yet however…

"Why are you hanging out with this guy Gaara-sama? We want to bear your children!"

Gaara twitched at the image that statement provided, and Naruto got pissed.

"You bitches! If anyone bears Gaara's children, it's going to be me!"

"…"

Naruto suddenly blushed when he realized what he had said. Just when did he decide that he would be willing to have Gaara's children? Hell, he couldn't even have kids! He was a boy! At least it had shut the fangirls up for the moment…

"I'm hanging out with Naruto because we're dating."

Naruto turned around to look at Gaara in shock and found himself pulled into a hungry kiss. Naruto kissed back willingly, making small moans of contentment his throat. The fangirls were shocked. This blonde kid was kissing their Gaara-sama! This stupid sun-blonde kid with adorable blue eyes and luscious tan skin, kissing a sexy redhead with fiery emerald eyes and creamy white skin… both boys… The fangirls could feel themselves drooling. Then they made a decision…

"Blonde kid! What's your name!"

Naruto unwillingly broke from the kiss to glare at them.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! And you better fuck off 'cause Gaara belongs to me!"

Naruto had expected the girls to glare at him or something, but they didn't. They got stars in their eyes and before either of the boys could blink, they had both taken pictures of them. Naruto and Gaara just stared.

"We are no longer Gaara fangirls! From here on out, We are GAANARU fangirls! You two are so KAWAII!"

Then the two fangirls ran off with their precious photos to get them developed as soon as possible. Naruto grinned at Gaara.

"Guess I don't have to worry about being mauled by any of your fangirls, huh Gaara?

"Mauled by them for what?"

"For dating you of course!"

Naruto glomped Gaara, knocking him to the ground, and planted a quick kiss on his lips. Gaara looked slightly dazed.

"…You'll really date me?"

"Only 'cause you're a sexy panda!"

"… Hmph. If I'm a sexy panda, you're… a kitsune-baka."

"Nani? Panda-baka!"

"Kitsune-baka"

"Panda-baka!"

"…Shut up, lets walk some more."

So the couple continued their walk. Neither of them noticed that they were being watched…

* * *

The two Suna fangirls had immediately rushed over to the closest camera shop to get their film developed when they saw none other than Gaara-sama's older sister Temari-sama. 

"Temari-sama! What brings you here?"

Temari and Sakura looked around. Temari recognized the two girls from the "We love Gaara-sama" fangirls club.

"Were you two looking for Gaara?"

"We are no longer Gaara-sama fangirls!"

"Really?"

"We are now dedicated to GAANARU!"

Temari and Sakura did the anime fall. So they weren't the only ones who liked the pair…

"Your photos are ready."

Sakura took the photos and her and Temari immediately started to coo over them. The Suna fangirls were curious as to what they were looking at, and stared over their shoulders. They just about died from nosebleeds. GAANARU make out pictures, sleeping GAANARU pictures… a fangirls dream come true.

"KYAAAAAAA! KAWAII!"

* * *

Tenten, Ino, and Hinata had been walking by when they heard the fangirls screams. Wondering what could be so cute, they walked into the store and looked at the pictures that the others were drooling over. 

"KAWAII!"

* * *

The owner of the store was wondering why the girls wanted copies of all of the pictures… but considering the "make them or you die a painful death" looks on their faces, he decided not to ask. Then Kurenai walked in and wondered what all of the girls were staring at. She went over to eavesdrop on their conversation. 

"…who's the guy with the silver hair? He's hot! And that tan guy is sooo cute!"

"Wow, who knew that Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei could make such a cute couple!"

"Cute? I think they're hot!"

Temari was rather shocked when Kurenai appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the KakaIru photo's out of her hand. Kurenai got starry eyed and hugged the pictures to her chest. The girls stared. Yaoi fangirls came in all shapes and sizes…

"Kurenai-sensei? Would you like copies of those?"

"YES!"

Then and there the Konoha Yaoi Fangirls club was born. Members? Temari, Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, Ino, Kurenai, and the two Suna girls. Main couples of interest? GAANARU and KAKAIRU. Let the matchmaking begin!

* * *

Naruto and Gaara ate lunch at Ichiraku's again and Gaara was tired afterwards. Naruto could understand; who in their right mind could not be sleepy after never sleeping their whole life? Naruto didn't want to be separated from Gaara just yet though, so he invited him to sleep over at his apartment. Gaara sleepily agreed. When they got to Naruto's room Gaara collapsed onto the bed and went straight to sleep. Naruto thought that Gaara looked so kawaii, sleeping peacefully with his panda beanie still on his head… Naruto smiled and gently closed the door behind him. It's amazing how Gaara could look cute and sexy at the same time… 

'_Whoa Naruto, deep breath, Not good to be thinking of that now. Think of… Sasuke standing in the living room. Wait, Sasuke standing in the living room? WTF!'_

Sasuke was indeed standing in the living room glaring at him. Naruto stared at him shocked . What the hell was Sasuke-teme doing here? How did he get in? Seeing the shock on Naruto's face Sasuke smirked at him.

"… You left the door open dobe."

"Sasuke! What the hell are you doing here!"

"Why are you with that sand bastard?"

Naruto became extremely angry at this statement.

"Urousai! Don't call Gaara a bastard!"

"Dobe. Why were you kissing him?"

"That's 'cause I like him! You still haven't told me what you're doing here Sasuke-teme!"

Sasuke smirked and a glint of something Naruto didn't recognize shone in his eyes. Before Naruto could react Sasuke had closed the distance between them and captured Naruto's lips in a kiss. Naruto tried to pull away but Sasuke had put his hands around his head and waist, squishing them together.

'_Gaara!'_

_

* * *

_  
Gaara woke up suddenly with a great sense of unease. He ran into the living room to see someone kissing his Naruto, and against his will too. Sasuke found himself hit by a wall of sand while said sand forced Naruto from his arms and deposited him next to Gaara. Sasuke immediately leaped to the door way before the sand could kill him. He looked up to see a pair of furious green eyes. Gaara was pissed off beyond belief.

"If you touch Naruto like that again Uchiha, I will kill you."

Sasuke saw the sand coming toward him and decided that it was a good time to leave. He disappeared and Gaara's sand went back into his gourd. Gaara knelt down to inspect Naruto and the distraught boy buried his head in his chest.

"Gaara, sorry… didn't meant to let… didn't want… tried to make him stop… sorry…"

Naruto started sobbing. Gaara embraced the other boy, whispering soothing words into his ear.

"It's okay, he's gone… Not your fault… I'm here for you…"

Gaara could feel himself getting tired again, and Naruto looked pretty beat too. Suddenly Gaara picked up Naruto bridal style and carried him to his room. Naruto was too tired to protest, and besides, he liked being in Gaara's strong arms… Gaara. Naruto wrapped his arms around Gaara's neck and clung to him, never wanting to let go…

'_Aishiteru Gaara…'_

_

* * *

_  
Neji was walking around the Hyuuga household grounds when he saw his cousin Hinata hurrying toward the house, looking uncharacteristically excited and flushed and holding something in her hands.

"What have you got there Hinata-sama?"

"Just some pictures Neji-niisan!"

Neji activated his Byakugan and saw… Pictures of two people he wasn't expecting.

"…Hinata-sama?"

"Isn't it cute?"

Hinata ran to her room to post pictures of her newly found obsession: GaaNaru.

TBC

* * *

Hahaha, tenth chapter done! (does victory dance) Thank you readers for the awesome ideas, I luv you all! More KakaIru next, and maybe other stuff… you'll all have to wait and see huh? But only if I get reviews! Say hi to the nice reviewers Gaara! 

Gaara: …

Tina-chan: Onegai? I'll give you a Naruto plushie if you do!

Gaara: …Hi reviewer people. (grabs plushie and glares at authoress)

Tina-chan: Yay for reviewers! If I get lots of reviews I might try to update in the next day or two! It's up to you to give me inspiration! See ya!

Vocab (if you see something wrong please correct me!)

urousai- shut up

demo- but

baka- stupid

kitsune- fox

aishiteru- I love you (only used between lovers)

teme- means bastard, but its pretty much what Naruto calls Sasuke, okay?

Please review!


	11. Chapter 11

Yes, I know people were upset by the evil Sasuke thing. I'm sorry, it was necessary for plot development! Oh yeah, and kawaii means cute for people who got confused! BTW, there will be cell phones and computers in this world. Now that I'm done apologizing for my mistakes, here's Sasuke for disclaimer!

Sasuke: Tina-chan does not own Naruto because she keeps making stupid mistakes. (glares at authoress)

Tina-chan: T.T

Naruto: It's okay! (hugs authoress)

Gaara and Sasuke: (glare)

* * *

Kurenai was walking around feeling victorious about the newly formed Konoha Yaoi Fangirls club when she spied Kakashi walking with Iruka. Knowing that Kakashi would notice if she spied on them, she decided to approach them directly. This was going to be fun… 

"Hatake-san! Iruka-kun! What are you two doing together? I didn't know you were friends!"

Kakashi turned to stare at her with boredom and Iruka turned red.

"Anou, hello Kurenai-san. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was just walking back from the film shop. Are you two on a date?"

Iruka turned even redder and stared at the ground, stuttering. Kakashi wondered what the hell Kurenai was getting at, and decided to find out.

"Why yes, we are. Is there something wrong with that Kurenai-san?"

Kurenai smiled at them. Iruka was still staring at the ground so he couldn't see it, but to Kakashi the smile was somewhat… scary. In a weird… fangirlish sort of way?

"Oh really? Well don't let me interrupt anything! Good luck Hatake-san!"

Kurenai winked at Kakashi, making the jounin think, WTF was that about?

Once out of Kakashi's sight range Kurenai whipped out her cell phone and called Temari.

"Temari-chan, Kakashi and Iruka are on a date right now!"

Temari immediately text messaged the information to the rest of the KYF club and ran off to see if she could spy on the two men. Meanwhile, Neji was confused… Very confused.

"Hinata-sama, I don't understand. Why do you have those… pictures with you?"

Hinata stared at him with a very out of character look of 'what, are you stupid?' Neji was starting to get very scared indeed…

"It's cute."

As if that explained everything, Hinata looked down to admire her precious GAANARU photos. Neji felt as if the apocalypse was upon him.

"You think that's… cute?"

Before Hinata could reply her cell phone went off. She read the text message immediately and looked disappointed. Neji distinctly heard her mutter, "Too bad it's not Gaara-kun and Naruto-kun…" Then Hinata got an idea.

"Neji-niisan?"

"Hai, Hinata-sama?"

"Can I borrow your digital camera?"

"Umm, sure. Why?"

Hinata smiled sweetly at him.

"I just need it."

Neji could feel evil yaoi fangirlness lurking behind the smile and quickly decided to hand his camera over unless he wanted to see a very scary side of his cousin come out…

* * *

Kakashi was feeling slightly paranoid after his and Iruka's run in with Kurenai. Iruka was still embarrassed, but Kakashi liked how his blush accentuated his scar. 

"Anou, Kakashi?"

"Hai Iruka?"

"…Do you ever get the feeling that you're being watched?"

"…"

Kakashi activated his sharingan eye and looked around. Unluckily for Kakashi, the Sasuke fangirls had invented fangirl disguises that could even fool the sharingan. Sakura, being a member of the Sasuke fangirl club, had access to sharingan-proof disguises and had passed them out to all of its members. So Kakashi didn't see anything overly suspicious when he looked around with his eye. Thanks to his ninja instincts however, he could sense that some people somewhere were watching him and Iruka. That wouldn't do…

"Iruka, would you like to spar?"

Iruka blinked at him. Spar with Kakashi? A high ranking jounin sharingan user?

"Hai! I would be honored!"

The two proceeded to the training grounds which were thankfully deserted. They decided on a taijutsu only match with kunai allowed. Definitely no jutsu's or sharingan were to be used. Iruka smiled. Despite his kind disposition he did like a good sparring match. He could be a jounin if he wanted too, but he preferred teaching so he remained a chuunin. He hoped he could give Kakashi a decent match.

Kakashi had expected an unexciting match since he was a jounin going against a chuunin. How wrong he turned out to be…

He threw a kunai at Iruka and the teacher dodged it easily. Kakashi felt him approach behind him and blocked the punch thrown at his head. Limbs flashed, shuriken flew, and Kakashi was surprised by Iruka's speed and grace. If he didn't know better he would have sworn that Iruka had jounin capabilities… Then he felt a well placed kick land on his ribs. It was a powerful kick but Kakashi fell well enough so that he didn't break any ribs. Not to say that he didn't take any damage; he fell on his back clutching his ribs which were throbbing painfully.

_'This is definitely going to leave a bruise in the morning…' _

Iruka leaned over him, looking slightly surprised that his kick had managed to bring the jounin to the ground. Kakashi gasped and rubbed his throbbing ribs. Who knew that the chuunin could kick so hard!

"…Iruka."

"Hai Kakashi sa- I mean, hai Kakashi?"

"Why the hell are you still a chuunin? In case you didn't know, that was jounin level fighting."

"… Well, I want to stay a chuunin so that I can teach the kids at the academy. I feel more fulfilled teaching the next generation of Konoha shinobi than going on missions. If the need ever arose I would fight as a jounin but for now I am perfectly happy in my position."

Kakashi mulled this information over. It made sense actually, not everyone wanted to deal with the murder, blood, and loss that usually accompanied missions, not to mention the guilt… Yes, Iruka was a smart person. Kakashi felt his ribs throbbing again and winced slightly. Iruka noticed and remembered that he had kicked him there rather hard during their match…

"Gomen nasai! Does it hurt much Kakashi?"

It hurt like a bitch but no way in hell was Kakashi going to admit it.

"I'm fine Iruka, this is nothing compared to what I get on missions."

Iruka looked skeptical. Before Kakashi fully comprehended what he was doing, Iruka landed a light punch on Kakashi's ribs. Kakashi grabbed his ribs and winced noticeably while gritting his teeth to prevent a curse word from flying out of his mouth.

"Let's go to my apartment and I'll look at it for you."

"I really don't think that's necessary but thank you."

Iruka fixed Kakashi with his fiercest teacher glare which caused shivers to crawl up Kakashi's back. Then Iruka spoke in his teacher voice that no one was insane enough to argue with.

"**We. Are. Going. NOW**."

Kakashi took one look at Iruka's **very very** scary stern teacher face, meeped, and followed the chuunin back to his apartment with no argument.

"_No wonder Iruka's the only teacher in school who can get the kids to behave… scary."_

_

* * *

_  
Kakashi entered Iruka's apartment which was clean and organized, as expected. He sat on the couch while Iruka pulled out a first-aid kit.

"Iruka, I really don't think it's that bad-"

"I'm going to look at it anyway. You never know if a seemingly minor wound is worse than it seems so take off your shirt and let me look at it."

Kakashi complied, feeling strangely self conscious. He looked down and saw that he already had a black and blue bruise on his ribs. Iruka frowned and got out some ointment.

'_Jeez, I didn't think that I kicked him that hard. If Kakashi was less skilled I could have broken his ribs or something…'_

"Here Kakashi, this will ease the pain and help with the healing process."

Iruka put some of the ointment on his fingers and began to gently rub it into the bruised area. He noticed that Kakashi had a nice muscular chest. He could see the muscles rippling under flawless pale skin and wondered…

'_Ah! No mind, don't go there, bad thoughts!"_

Meanwhile Kakashi was having some problems controlling his thoughts as well.

'_Mm, Iruka has gentle fingers… the ointment feels good. If he's so good on the sparring field I wonder what he would be like in… Whoa hold on Kakashi, you haven't even made out with him yet! One step at a time. Damn, why am I the only one shirtless?'_

Iruka finished with the ointment and took out some bandages. He told Kakashi to put his arms up and started wrapping the fabric around his ribs over the ointment binding it tight enough so it wouldn't fall off put loose enough so it didn't hinder Kakashi's movement. Kakashi was rather enjoying all of this physical contact, it felt nice. Really nice. He was disappointed when Iruka finished and went to put the first-aid kit away.

'_Maybe I should get injured more often.'_

_

* * *

_  
Gaara woke up next to Naruto once again. Naruto's eyes were still puffy from crying but he looked so cute when he was sleeping… Naruto woke up and smiled warmly at Gaara. He kind of liked knowing that Gaara looked after him in his sleep.

'_It kinda makes me warm and fuzzy inside!'_

Naruto was feeling much better after the Sasuke incident since Gaara was there, but he felt like he needed something else… something like…

"Let's eat ice cream Gaara!"

"…What's ice cream?"

Naruto looked at Gaara horrified. Gaara looked perplexed.

'_Gaara's never had ice cream? I pity his poor tortured soul!'_

"C'mon, I'll show you! I have some in the freezer that Iruka-sensei bought for me!"

Gaara allowed Naruto to drag him to the kitchen. Naruto looked in the freezer and took out two ice creams. One was Chunky Monkey (Ben and Jerry's), and one was cookie dough. Naruto got out two spoons and handed the cookie dough ice cream to Gaara.

"Ice cream is sweet, and you eat it with a spoon! This is cookie dough!"

Gaara looked at the ice cream dubiously, then ate a spoonful. He froze and started twitching.

"Anou sa, are you okay Gaara?"

"…Cookie dough?"

"Um yeah, that's the flavor."

Gaara immediately started pigging out on ice cream. Naruto stared at him and raised an eyebrow. Gaara liked cookie dough huh?

"Gaara, have you ever had regular cookies?"

Gaara momentarily looked up from his new found friend (aka cookie dough ice cream).

"…No."

"They're made from cookie dough! I bet you would like them!"

"…Made from the same stuff in the ice cream?"

"Yeah! Hey, let's go to your place and make cookies! I saw a bunch of ingredients in your kitchen, and I bet your siblings would want some too! Lets go!

So Gaara and Naruto went to the place that Gaara was staying with his siblings to make cookies! Let the baking begin…

* * *

Hinata de-activated her Byakugan and clutched her newfound friend (aka Neji's camera) to her chest in glee. Naruto-kun and Gaara-kun had looked so cute sleeping together like that! 

TBC

* * *

Okay, I have a contest for my readers! I need at name for 'the place that Gaara was staying at with his siblings.' The best name gets put in the next chapter! Please email me or put it in your review! Sorry if this chapter seems boring, I'll try to do better next time! 

Please review. It feeds my Yaoi GaaNaru soul.


	12. Chapter 12

The name of the place Gaara is staying is now: Konohagakure Panda Yadoya ( Konoha Village Panda inn), which is to be known as Panda Yadoya for short! Thank you **blue-genjutsu**,** She. Who. Knows**, and **Alchemist Neko-chan! **I combined all your idea's to make this name. Also, thank you to everyone who submitted idea's, they were all good! Sorry if it seems I'm going overboard on the whole fangirl thing, but I like it! Read and enjoy!

Kankuro: Tina-chan does not own Naruto or any of its awesome characters!

Warnings: fangirlness

* * *

Konoha had a secret fangirl club. Who, you might ask, would have a secret fangirl club? Who else but Uzumaki Naruto? It was made up of girls who admired Naruto as one might admire Sabaku no Gaara or Uchiha Sasuke. Why the secrecy? They knew his secret about Kyuubi. They had figured it out after a while, after noticing the hateful glares and whispers that followed him everywhere in town. If people knew that Naruto had a fan club, the girls feared that the elders in the village would try to harm him in some way. So the secret Uzumaki Naruto fan club watched their beloved Naruto-kun from the shadows, watching his every move and fawning over him. Never interfering with anything, at least until now…

* * *

T.C. was at a Sasuke fangirls meeting. Why, you might ask? She was actually the president of the Uzumaki Naruto fangirl club, but she was forced to go the Sasuke club because its president was one of her main Naruto informants: Haruno Sakura. Since Sakura was part of Naruto's team, T.C. could ask about Naruto and how he was doing. Now, T.C. hated Uchiha Sasuke. Why? Because he was always tormenting Naru-kun! She also thought that Sakura could be a huge bitch when she wanted too. Who hits a poor defenseless guy every time he tries to speak? T.C. would bear anything for Naru-kun though, so she struggled through pretending to like Sasuke and talking with big forehead girl. After that particular meeting, T.C. went to try to ask Sakura about Naruto when Sakura was approached by a girl with blonde hair styled in four pigtails. The blonde girl produced some photos and she and Sakura started to coo over them. Curious, T.C. came over to look. 

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Temari and Sakura turned around in shock. T.C looked like she had just seen the apocalypse or something. T.C. came back into reality and gaped at the pictures.

"Is that… Is that…."

Sakura decided to make things clearer.

"Yeah, it's Sabaku no Gaara and Naruto! Don't they make the cutest couple?"

"Naru-chan and… Gaara!"

T.C. thought that is was about time to call a Uzumaki Naruto fan girl meeting… ASAP.

T.C. thanked Sakura and the blonde girl and ran home to call an emergency meeting of the Uzumaki Naruto fangirl cub.

* * *

Once everyone had gathered, T.C. took a deep breath and began her explanation. 

"Okay, so we are all Naruto fangirls. This means that we know everything about him, who he is, what he likes, his hobbies, etc. right?"

"Yep!"

"So can anyone explain why no one knew he was dating Sabaku no Gaara?"

You could have heard a pin drop and in fact did when one girl dropped a senbon on the floor. Out of nowhere a voice emerged.

"Anou, I-I did. I-I guess I was so… busy I f-forgot to inform the club members… G-Gomen Nasai."

T.C. looked up in surprise to see Hyuuga Hinata doing her finger thing, blushing, and grinning sheepishly. Since when did Hinata-san grin sheepishly, with a scary fangirl glint in her eyes? She was the most devoted member of the club, but was always stammering and acting shy. If not for that she could have been president, or even vice president of the club.

"So what have you found out about Sabaku no Gaara? Last I heard he almost killed Naruto-kun! Can we trust this sand shinobi with Naru-kun? Will he take care of him and not break his heart?"

All of the club members were curious about this and waited for an answer. Hinata paused.

"Anou, I think that Gaara-san cares deeply for Naruto-kun, but I haven't really delved deep enough into their emotional relationship."

"If you weren't focusing on their relationship, what were you focusing on?"

Hinata blushed even more and started to do her finger thingy again.

"Anou, I… I'll s-show you."

Hinata hooked Neji's camera to a projector which just happened to be in the room. The fangirls looked at the first picture.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! KAWAII!"

Naruto and Gaara were sleeping, arms wrapped around each other, blissfully unaware of anything in the world and looking so damn adorable…

While the fangirls were looking at the picture with starry chibi eyes Hinata took a picture out of her pocket and blew it up on the screen.

**"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"**

Most of the club passed out with nosebleeds. T.C. almost fainted from…. The overwhelming ness of the picture. Naruto-kun and Gaara... making out… It was almost too much for a yaoi fangirl to take.

"Sugoi…"

T.C. looked at Hinata with new respect. Who knew that the Hyuuga was into yaoi? Especially if it involved her beloved Naruto-kun. She had the Byakugan too… lucky. When the rest of the club had recovered from their little 'incident,' T.C. made a plan.

"Even though Naruto-kun and Gaara-san look soooo kawaii together-"

At this everyone nodded fervently. Some of the girls were already making, 'I luv GaaNaru' shirts and pins and begging Hinata for copies of all of her pictures.

"-we still don't know much about Gaara. I propose that we spy on them to see if he's a suitable match for Naruto-kun!"

The girls thought that this was great plan and made plans to spy on the two boys right away. So they had Hinata find the boys location and her and T.C. set off for the Panda Yadoya.

* * *

Naruto and Gaara went into the Panda Yadoya and started searching for a cookie recipe on the internet. Naruto chose chocolate chip cookies. Then the boys started to assemble the ingredients on the kitchen counter and had just finished when Temari came waltzing in carrying a camera. She immediately spotted the two boys and smiled. 

"Ah, are you guys baking something? Do you want me to help?"

"NO. Its okay neesan, I think we'll be okay."

Temari shrugged and went upstairs to load her pictures onto the computer. Gaara let out a breath and slumped against the counter.

"…Thank kami neesan didn't press the issue of 'helping' us."

"Is her cooking really that bad?"

"…You have no idea."

"Okay, let's see if we can make these edible! I've never baked cookies before, have you?"  
"..."

TBC

* * *

Okay, again sorry if you think I'm overdoing the whole fangirl thing. It would be interesting if the two clubs conflicted though. Next chapter, are the cookies edible? The evils of sugar highness… and Kankuro finally makes a more central appearance! He will probably be OOC 'cause I don't know much about his personality, sorry! I'll also try to put more action in the next chapter… it's been rather lacking lately! 

Kakashi: I've barely gotten any! None of them count!

Tina-chan: Stuff it Kakashi, I just have more trouble writing yours 'cause you're an adult! I don't want to take it too fast!

Kakashi: -sulk-

Please review. It feeds my mind and soul. (and contributes to how much yaoi I feel like putting in!)


	13. Chapter 13

Ah, thank you so much for the awesome reviews for chapter 12! My reviewers are so kind…

Neji: Tina-chan does not own Naruto. If she did Hinata-sama would be a scary yaoi fangirl… -shudder-

Hinata: A-anou… s-shounen-ai w-warning… I-if you don't like it… DON'T' READ IT!

-glare-

Neji: -meep-

* * *

Kankuro was lazing about upstairs when he smelled something baking. Someone was baking? 

'_Kami, don't tell me Temari is cooking! I don't wanna go to the hospital again…'_

Then Kankuro remembered that Temari had 'gone out' as she called it. She couldn't be baking. That only left one person… but that wasn't possible, was it?

'…_I don't want to, but I guess I should check.'_

_

* * *

_  
"Wow that was a little harder than I thought it was going to be! I think we did okay though, what do you think Gaara?"

"…Hn."

They had started to do the recipe when they realized that the measurements were strange English measurements, like cups! ( A/N remember that Americans and such people have weird measurements… cause we're all just weird like that.) None of them knew how to convert the measurements to the metric system, so they just decided to wing it. I mean, they knew all of the ingredients, right? How hard could it be to figure out the measurements? After Naruto said that it somewhat resembled cookie dough they had put lumps of it on a cookie pan and put in the oven. After ten minutes they took the cookies out again and let them cool, and then they examined them.

"Anou, they look okay."

"…are you sure?"

"Yeah! I'm sure they'll be good"

"…maybe we should test them first."

"Test 'em on who?"

At that moment Kankuro walked into the kitchen to see who was baking. He saw Gaara and Naruto with a pan of cookies, and Gaara was staring at him weird… He turned around and was about to run away when his little brother spoke.

"…Kankuro."

He froze. It was not a good idea to ignore Gaara, unless you wanted to die…

"Uh, yeah Gaara?"

"…Have a cookie"

It wasn't a question it was a demand, and Kankuro knew it. He gulped slightly and took a cookie. Gaara's cooking couldn't be as bad as Temari's, could it? Gaara was glaring at him and he knew that he had to eat the cookie or suffer the consequences. He took a bite and…

"Whoa!"

He ran to the fridge and drank a lot of water to dilate the immense amount of sugar that was now circulating through his blood stream.

"…how much sugar did you guys put in this!"

"Uh, I dunno, we kinda just poured it in until it looked right."

Gaara nodded in agreement.

"Did you do that for the brown sugar, white sugar, and chocolate chips?"

They both nodded.

"Anou sa, anou sa, how did it taste?"

Kankuro thought about it. The cookies had actually been pretty good, they just had way too much sugar… and everyone knows how scary people can be on sugar high.

"Yeah, they were pretty good. I wouldn't eat too many of them at once though. So… why are you guys baking?"

"Well, Gaara ate cookie dough ice cream and he really liked it and I asked him if he ever had cookies and he said no so I thought that maybe we could make some so he could try them and we came over here cause you guys have a better kitchen and Temari asked of she could help but Gaara told her no and then we got the ingredients but recipe had weird measurements so we just kind of estimated how much stuff to put in but they turned out okay so its fine!"

It took Kankuro about five minutes to actually comprehend what the blonde was saying, and when he did he was still confused. Since when did Gaara like ice cream? Or cookies? Then again, since when did Gaara hug people or wear panda ear beanies? Kankuro looked at Naruto. Was this blonde kid really the cause of all of this?

"So you guys are friends now, huh?"

"Yeah, 'cause Gaara's really cool!"

Naruto immediately hugged Gaara. Gaara stiffened and… was that a blush?"

'_Gaara's blushing? Something's definitely missing here… but it couldn't be that, could it? Then again, if Gaara has started blushing who says the impossible can't happen?'_

"So you guys are just friends?"

"Um, well…"

Naruto blushed a bit and looked at the floor. Kankuro smirked.

'_So they are a little more than 'just friends'… and I wasn't hallucinating that time I saw them hugging… Still, who would have thought that Gaara swung any way, especially that way?'_

Gaara glared at his brother for making Naruto uncomfortable. Kankuro put his hands up in defense.

"Hey, I don't have anything against you guys, I think its great. Just don't be too loud at night, okay?"

With that last comment Naruto blushed even deeper and Gaara had a vein pulsing in his forehead. Kankuro decided to exit and ran for his life. He was still smirking though, because who would have thought that he would be able to tease Gaara and live? Naruto was going to make living with Gaara a lot more bearable…

* * *

Gaara was still slightly pissed off at his brother, and Naruto decided that now would be a good time to distract him. 

"Hey Gaara, look at me!"

Gaara turned around and Naruto popped one of the cookies in his mouth. His panda eyes widened considerably. Cookies tasted good! Really sugary… Sugar! Now, Gaara had never really had sugar besides the ice cream. Sweets weren't big in Suna. Therefore Gaara didn't know that he was highly susceptible to sugar high. Anyone who's ever had an excess of sugar knows the strange things that sugar high makes us do….

"… Naruto, do you want to taste the cookies?"

"Yeah, they look really- mmph!"

Gaara kissed him, pulling his tongue into his mouth. Naruto tasted sugar… lots of sugar, and chocolate! Yummy… Naruto made a happy purring sound in his throat. Gaara pulled away and smirked.

"…Did it taste good?"

"Yeah, could I try some more?"

"Try this instead."

Gaara stuffed a cookie into Naruto's mouth, payback for earlier. Naruto was slightly disappointed, but the cookie did taste good… mmm, sugary! It tasted like Gaara…

'_Two new favorite things besides ramen: pandas and chocolate chip cookies!_

_

* * *

_  
T.C. was savoring a 'happy yaoi/Naruto fangirl' moment. Hinata's eyes looked slightly glazed over (it was hard to tell though). They had watched the Naruto/Gaara/cookie make-out session from a bush through the kitchen window and taken pictures. Unbeknownst to them, above them in a tree were Temari and Sakura, who had also watched. T.C. and Hinata went to update the Naruto fan club while Temari and Sakura went to inform the KYF club.

Kankuro was heading back to the Panda Yadoya when he saw two girls walking back from that direction. Kankuro raised an eyebrow. Hadn't he seen those two briefly when he had run out of the house for dear life? And why in the world were they carrying cameras?

'_Guess it wouldn't hurt to follow them, if Gaara's still angry I won't be able to enter the Yadoya anyway. Are they Gaara fangirls or something?'_

_

* * *

_  
Neji was walking around when he saw a guy with purple paint on his face following his cousin Hinata, and Hinata was walking with some strange girl and still carrying his camera. He decided to follow them for two reasons: one, to see why the weird paint-faced guy was following his cousin, and two, to see exactly where Hinata-sama was going with her newfound friend and _his_ camera…

Neji walked over to the paint faced guy.

"…Why are you following my cousin?"

Kankuro turned around to see a long haired guy with weird eyes glaring at him.

"Uh, sorry, I didn't know she was your cousin, but I think that she and that other girl were spying on my brother."

"And why would Hinata-sama be spying on your brother?"

"Beats me, that's why I'm following them."

"Then please allow me to accompany you."

Neji's glare left no room for argument, so the two boys silently followed behind the girls to their destination.

* * *

"Okay girls, here's the update!" 

The Naruto fan club was in T.C.'s backyard sitting in front of a projector screen and Neji and Kankuro were hidden in some bushes watching them. They wondered why all the girls were gathered there; what was their purpose?

T.C. loaded her and Hinata's photos onto the projector.

"KYAAAAAH, SO KAWAII!"

One of the members of the club raised her hand.

"I move to change our name from the Uzumaki Naruto fan club to the GaaNaru fangirl club!"

T.C. considered it. That would be huge. It would mean that the girls would pledge themselves to keeping the two together as a couple, and protecting them from all that would tear them apart. Would they be able to handle that? And what of Sabaku no Gaara?

"That is a possibility that will be voted on. But first, I would like to know a bit more of Sabaku no Gaara. What is he like? What's his history and-"

"T.C.-san."

"Hai Hinata-chan?"

Hinata had her Byakugan activated.

"…We're being watched."

* * *

Neji and Kankuro looked at each other in horror; they had wandered into the middle of a group of rabid fangirls! And not just any fangirls, Yaoi fangirls, who were ten times as worse as the ordinary kind! Kankuro was slightly intrigued though. Who knew that Gaara had it in him? His little brother was growing up, that was for sure. These fangirls seemed kind of iffy about Gaara though, and Kankuro didn't blame them. Thanks to Naruto, Gaara was more stable but would he stay that way? 

Neji was somewhat mortified. Hinata-sama was stooping so low as to spy on people for pictures? She was obsessed with yaoi? Who was this person, and what had she done with the old Hinata? And the whole Gaara/Naruto thing. Since when had they started to do that kind of stuff? And why did it bother him so much? This sucked!

"Neji-niisan?"

And of course fate had to be cruel and make it worse.

* * *

After being told that they were being watched, the fangirls decided to figure out who was watching them. They snuck up to the place that Hinata indicated, armed with shuriken, senbons, and various other sharp and pointy objects. T.C. pulled back to the bushes to reveal… Neji and Kankuro. Hinata was confused. 

"Neji-niisan?"

Neji and Kankuro were terrified, to say the least. What kind of boy wouldn't be afraid of armed yaoi fangirls?

"Okay, who are you guys and what are you doing here? Talk fast or face the wrath of fangirls!"

"Anou, one is my c-cousin Neji-niisan. I-I don't know the other person…"

"Uh, I'm Kankuro and Gaara is my little brother and I'm here because I wanted to know what you guys were doing hanging around the inn."

"You're Gaara's niisan?"

"Yep!"

"Okay, I'm T.C., president of the Naruto fan club. All of us here are devoted to the happiness of Naruto, who is currently dating your otouto. Tell us about him. What is he like? Did he have a happy childhood? Is he mentally stable? Will he be a good match for Naruto-kun?"

"What if I don't want to tell you?"

T.C. smiled sweetly.

"… I'm sure we can think of something. Girls?"

All of the fangirls had evil glints in their eyes as they thought of ways to get Kankuro to talk. Kankuro decided that he would rather talk than find out what they were planningto do with him…Who knew what fangirls could come up with with their twisted minds?

"What's Gaara like? Sure, I can tell you that!"

"Let's go inside shall we?"

Neji tried to sneak away but both he and Kankuro were caught and dragged into T.C.'s house by the fangirls.

'_Damn you Gaara, why is your relationship causing problems for me? I'm gonna get interrogated by rabid fangirls!'_

'_Damn you Sabaku no Gaara, your relationship with Naruto is pissing me off! And it's making Hinata-sama act weird! And since when did Naruto have a fan club?'_

TBC

* * *

Poor Neji and Kankuro… let's pray for their souls. -kekeke- 

I have a confession to make; I have writers block for the KakaIru pairing! Would my readers be really awesome and give me some ideas? If not, the pairing might not appear for a loooong time… have pity on them! And Neji-kun seems to be getting a bit jealous… -smirk- What will become of him and Kankuro?

Kakashi: who cares about them? What do you mean by a loooong time?

Iruka: Yeah!

Tina-chan: Sorry, I just don't know what to do next!

Iruka/Kakashi: Well, figure it out!

Tina-chan: Don't yell at me! You guys are mean… You keep this up and I'll change the pairing! How does ItaIru sound huh? Mess with me and I swear I'll put it in!

Naruto: Wow, she's cracking up... You guys better be careful, I think she's serious!

Iruka/Kakashi: …Nooo!

Tina-chan: -points finger at them- You two better hope that the readers have pity on your souls and give me ideas!

Please review! Please help feed my soul… and save the souls of others. coughNejiKankuroKakashiIrukacough


	14. Chapter 14

Okay, does anyone want a Neji/Kankuro pairing? Some people were suggesting it, and **Golden Warrior12** gave me a great idea… So if the readers want it, I'm up for it! Just tell me what u think about the idea, okay? I'm going to start hinting at it a little… sorry to the people who wanted Neji/Lee! Here's T.C. for disclaimer!

T.C.: Tina-chan does not own Naruto. If she did Gaara would show up more often and people would be nicer to Naruto-kun. If you don't like Yaoi don't read it! And if you do… go for it!

* * *

All of the club members had tears in their eyes after hearing the sad tale of Gaara's childhood. Some were outright bawling while others were sobbing softly or had tears running down their face. Gaara's story was the same as Naruto-kun! The same rejection, the same hatred, the same pain… the only difference was in how they chose to deal with it. Naruto-kun hid behind fake smiles and obnoxiousness, and Gaara-san hid behind a stoic face, afraid of showing emotion at all. They were the same. 

Both Neji and Kankuro were terrified of the spectacle of a roomful of sobbing fangirls. All both of them wanted was to run away and forget about being taken captive by a bunch of girls!

'_Gaara's story really seemed to move these chicks… I hope that means they won't try to kill him or something, because that would be disastrous. Damn, I can't believe I got myself into this mess. This is all your fault Gaara!'_

'_Why am I here? All I've found out is that Gaara is a homicidal insomniac who is also a demon container! What does Naruto see in him anyway? And what's up with all of these crazy girls? Hinata-sama is scaring me…'_

As if she could read his thoughts, Hinata suddenly turned to him. She wiped the tears from her eyes asked him something that had been bothering her for a while.

"Anou, Neji-niisan?"

"Hai Hinata-sama?"

"Why were you spying in the bushes with Kankuro-san?"

"…I wanted to find out what was going on I guess."

Immediately T.C. was upon him.

"Why, do you not approve of GaaNaru?"

"… Well Gaara does seem kind of unstable, are you sure this is a good pairing?"

Immediately a deadly killer aura began to permeate the room. Neji activated his Byakugan and saw that the entire fanclub was giving him killer yaoi fangirl death glares. It was the scariest thing he had ever seen in his life. Scarier than Orochimaru or Itachi…

"So now that I told you the story can we go now?"

Kankuro had seen the death glares directed toward Neji and decided to save him from the wrath of the fangirls. No boy deserved that…

"Actually, Hinata-chan and I have a job for you!"

The boys turned to look at the president of the fanclub. She had straight black hair that went below shoulder length, and her skin was an even tan color. She also had dark brown eyes that were hidden behind green glasses. She was standing next to Hinata, and they were both surveying the boys.

"Since you're Gaara's brother and live with him, we want you to keep an eye on his relationship with Naruto-kun! Under no circumstances however will you attempt to break apart their relationship! If you do…"

T.C. left the sentence hanging and Kankuro noticed that some of the fangirls were grinning at him sadistically. If only he knew what was going through their heads…

"Anou, t-this counts for you too Neji-niisan!"

Neji's eyes widened slightly. Was Hinata trying to boss him around? He opened his mouth to retort when he noticed that T.C. was now holding four shuriken between fingers and giving him a look that clearly said, 'hurt her feelings and you die.' Neji decided that he liked living and nodded his consent.

"And we know where you two live so don't think that you can shirk your duty!"

Neji and Kankuro looked at each other and groaned inwardly. How had they gotten themselves into this…?

* * *

They sighed loudly once they got out of the house, and then just stood there in silence, Neji looking at the sky and pondering the evilness of fate and Kankuro looking at the kid with the freaky eyes. Kankuro decided to break the awkward silence. 

"Um, I guess we're kind of in this together right? I'm Kankuro."

"…Hyuuga Neji."

Then Neji started to walk home. Kankuro frowned slightly.

'_Jeez, arrogant bastard, he could have at least looked at me during the conversation. Not that it really qualified as a conversation… Oh well, with luck I won't have to hang out with him again.'_

Little did Kankuro know that the soon to be GaaNaru fangirl club had other ideas...

_TBC_

_

* * *

_  
This is a short chapter, but I really want to know what people think of a Neji/Kankurou pairing. It sounds weird, but you never know right? I have some good ideas, but I want reader support before I try an unusual pairing. So… just tell me what you think!

Naruto: But this is a GaaNaru fic!

Gaara: -glare-

T.C.: So? She didn't say there wouldn't be other pairings too! Don't worry though, you guys are still the main pairing!

Naruto: -points to T.C.- Anou sa, who are you?

T.C.: Uh… Hey, is that the **Yaoi Goddess of Ramen**?

Naruto: A Goddess of Ramen! -turns to look-

T.C.: -runs away-

Please review, I need to know what you think!


	15. Chapter 15

…Don't ask about this chapter; just accept it for what it is. Ooo, I finally got over KakaIru writer block! YAY! -dances around- Thanks for the support for the KanNeji pairing! My readers are the best! Especially the ones who review! Arigato! -bow-

Random Fangirl: Tina-chan does not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does!

Warnings: stuff and slight angst

* * *

Gaara and Naruto were walking around trying to get rid of their sugar highness. Even though the side effects were… interesting, Gaara realized that he did have a reputation to maintain. They were regretting the decision to walk in the street however because now the townspeople were out, and they did not sound happy. 

'_Look, it's the fox demon! Who's that with him?'_

'_Isn't that the demon from Suna? Sabaku no Gaara?'_

'_Why are the two demons walking together?'_

'_Oh well, with luck they'll kill each other off.'_

Gaara was getting really pissed. What the hell did the townspeople know? Who were they to judge him and Naruto? Naruto was trying to make Gaara not use his sand on people.

"Gaara, it's not worth it! If you hurt them it'll just make 'em worse, and then you'll get kicked out of the village and I won't be able to see you anymore!"

Gaara relented and tried to calm himself down. Naruto smiled slightly and pecked him on the cheek.

"Arigato Gaara."

Gaara almost blushed in public. Almost. He grabbed Naruto's hand and started to walk down the street. They started to hear whispers again…

'_Did you see that?'_

'_Don't tell me the two demons are-'_

'_How cute! Did you see that?'_

'_I know, look at them holding hands!'_

'_KAWAII!'_

Gaara stopped and twitched slightly while Naruto whirled around to look for the two people who had said that. By that time they were gone, and Naruto was greeted with hate stares of various degrees. He turned around quickly and ushered Gaara down the street. Gaara was thinking that the two people had sounded suspiciously like the fangirls…

* * *

Actually the two weren't fangirls; they just thought that Gaara and Naruto looked cute together. In fact, the more they thought about it the more intrigued they became… Soon they wished that they had brought cameras with them when they had decided to shop that morning. Little did they know that their problem was about to be solved. 

"Hey, do you guys like Gaara and Naruto?"

The girls turned around to see T.C. smiling at them, with Hyuuga Hinata behind her. The girls knew T.C. from around, and that she was a yaoi freak. Of course they knew Hinata, who didn't know the Hyuuga family? They did wonder why the two were hanging out together…

"Yeah, we thought they looked really cute together!"

"Too bad we didn't bring cameras; it would have made the cutest picture!"

"Would you like a picture?"

"…Really?"

"Yep! Hina-chan and I were on our way to the photo store to enlarge some of our pictures! You can come along if you want."

A little while later the GaaNaru fanclub gained two new members. Then those members showed pictures to their friends...

"SO KAWAII!"

* * *

Gaara and Naruto sneezed simultaneously. Naruto was confused. 

"Are we catching colds or something?"

"…Maybe someone's talking about us."

"Come on Gaara, you know that's not true!"

"…"

The two had wandered onto the training grounds, hoping to get some energy out by sparring. Gaara had won of course, but they both got a good workout. Gaara was still thinking about the various conversations they had heard.

'…_Demons. Is that all people think we are? How does Naruto still smile after hearing this everyday of his life? Wait, I know the answer to that. It's because he has precious people, people he loves and cares about…'_

"…Naruto."

"Yeah Gaara?"

"…Am I one of your precious people?"

Naruto looked at Gaara, surprised. Of course Gaara was one of his precious people! Maybe one of the most precious… Actually, Gaara was special. And now he looked sad and alone…

"You're special, 'cause you know what it's like to grow up being hated for no reason. So don't ever think you're not one of my precious people, okay Gaara?"

Then Naruto put his arms around Gaara's neck and kissed him. Hard. He tried to show Gaara that he was special; that he was the only one who could take away Naruto's underlying loneliness and make him happy. Only Gaara and no one else.

Gaara understood. He kissed back and tried to show Naruto that he was the only one who could break him out of his shell, the one that could crack his mask and bring out his emotions. Naruto was the one who could make him human.

"…Would you two mind getting a room?"

Naruto broke away from Gaara and looked to see Hyuuga Neji. His voice was emotionless, but his eyes had a strange look in them. It's hard to tell when someone doesn't have pupils, but Naruto thought they looked different at least. Gaara was really pissed and shot the Hyuuga his best death glare. He would have crushed him in his Sabaku Kyuu attack, but he knew that Naruto would hate him if he killed one of his friends. So he settled for hugging Naruto to him possessively and intensifying his glare.

"…Would you mind going away Hyuuga?"

Neji left.

* * *

He left because he realized that he had a crush in Naruto, but there was nothing that he could do about it now. Naruto loved Gaara, and Gaara made him happy. Neji wasn't about to break Naruto's happiness because of his own selfish desires. Fate always seemed to be against him, and there was nothing that he could do about it… And even worse, he was now employed by a bunch of crazy fangirls to look after Naruto's and Gaara's relationship. 

'_Why didn't they just rip out my heart and stamp it into the ground instead?'_

Neji didn't realize that someone had been watching him: Hinata. And she had seen the pain in her cousin's eyes.

* * *

Naruto had decided that he wanted to sleep over at Gaara's again. He would never tell Gaara, but he hated going back to his empty apartment. It always made him feel lonely… but now he could sleep with Gaara! Only Temari was downstairs when they came in, unloading her things from when she and Sakura had gone shopping. She had seen a cute guy there… He seemed kind of spacey though. 

"Hi Temari-chan! Watcha got there?"

She saw Naruto and Gaara looking at her purchases. Slowly an evil grin spread across her face… She had gotten something special for her otouto. Gaara saw the grin and felt a shiver run up his spine. Why was his neesan grinning at him like that…?

"Actually, I got some new pajamas for you guys! Gaara doesn't have any, and I found some that would look perfect on you guys!"

"Really? Thanks Temari-chan, you're the best!"

"…What kind of pajamas neesan?"

"These!"

With flourish, Temari pulled out the pajamas. One pair was orange with little chibi foxes and pink spiral fishcakes all over it. The other pair was jade green with pandas carrying bamboo all over it. Naruto was happy and Gaara was mortified. He knew exactly which pair was meant for him…

"Wow Temari-chan, these are awesome!"

"…I'm not wearing them."

"What? Pleeeeeeeeeese Gaara? I'm going to wear mine!"

"…No."

Naruto did his most pathetic and endearing crying chibi eyes.

"Pleeeeeeeese?"

Gaara had no defense against those eyes; who did?

"…Fine."

"Yay!"

Naruto glomped Gaara and Temari smirked. Who knew that otouto was defenseless against chibi eyes?

* * *

Kakashi was sitting in a tree, frustrated because he didn't know what to do about Iruka. The physical approach had worked well at first, but what now? He sighed. Why did he have to like the chuunin so much... 

"My eternal rival! Why is your face so marred by confusion and angst on such a glorious youthful day?"

Inwardly Kakashi groaned. It was the famed 'Green Beast' of Konoha… also known as Maito Gai.

"Yo."

"As always my rival, your response is so hip to the language of youth! I demand a match!"

"Sorry Gai, I'm injured."

Kakashi hoped that would get rid of Gai. It didn't work.

"What could have happened to you that you are too injured to fight me, my eternal rival? Your opponent must have been strong indeed!"

That just made Kakashi feel pathetic. What if Iruka thought that he was pathtic too? He sighed and took out Icha Icha Paradise, hoping that Gai would take the hint and go away. Unfortunately for him, Gai might have been weird but he wasn't stupid. He had something strange in his rival's eyes before he took out the infamous orange book.

"Aha! You are having relationship troubles, are you not? Of course! It shows in your face!"

Kakashi almost fell out of the tree. How did Gai know? He was so shocked he almost missed Gai's next words. Gai struck his 'nice guy' pose.

"Don't worry my rival! I, Maito Gai, the Green Beast of Konoha, swear to help you with your relationship problems! Now pray tell, who is the lucky girl?"

Kakashi could feel a headache coming on.

"I am not having relationship problems, and there is no need for you to involve yourself, thanks for your concern."

He then poofed out of the tree, leaving Gai still in his 'nice guy' pose.

'_What did I do to deserve this? As if I didn't have enough problems...'_

_

* * *

_  
Gai was full of compassion for his rival. Who knew that Kakashi was shy? Too shy to even face the truth of his pain! He had made a vow, and he was not about to forsake it because his rival was in denial! All he needed now was to find his rivals love interest!

* * *

It took years of shinobi training for Kurenai to not burst out laughing. 

'_Hmm, should I tell Gai who the lucky 'girl' is? Naw, I'll let him find it out for himself! This is going to be amusing… _

TBC

* * *

Sorry if the beginning was weird, that's just how it came out. It's really hard to write Gai, but I love him and Lee! They're awesome… Poor Neji got his heart broken! Also, lets all pity Kakashi's soul… 

Gai: My rival! I will not rest until I find out your hearts desire!

Iruka: Nani?

Kakashi: It's nothing!

Kurenai: -snicker-

Please review. My soul needs inspiration!


	16. Chapter 16

Hey people! Thanks for the lovely reviews for chapter 15! Here's the next chappie, hope you enjoy!

Tina-chan: I do not own Naruto, it belongs to Kishimoto-san! The only thing that's mine is the Jadepanda clothes line.

Warnings: -sigh- slight angst, fangirl convention. Need I say more?

* * *

Neji felt a presence behind him and turned around to see his cousin Hinata. 

"Is there something you want Hinata-sama?"

His voice was cold, and Hinata flinched.

"A-anou, I-I… G-gomen nasai."

"What is there to apologize for?"

"…A-anou, about G-Gaara and N-Naruto-kun… Y-you liked Naruto, r-right?"

Neji glared at her with so much venom she covered her face with her hands, as if he was going to hit her. When he spoke venom dripped from his words.

"I'm over that, and I would appreciate it if you didn't spy on my affairs. Please don't bring it up again."

Neji walked away, leaving Hinata stricken at his attitude and sad for his loss.

* * *

"Hey Gaara?" 

Naruto and Gaara were in the living room eating popcorn, which Gaara found out that he rather liked. He was finding that he liked to eat a lot of things…

"…what?"

"Did ya think that maybe Neji looked kinda sad?"

"…Who cares?"

"C'mon, don't be like that! He had a pretty screwed up childhood ya know!"

Kankuro had just entered the living room on his way to the kitchen and was intrigued. What had happened to the Hyuuga kid with the freaky eyes?

"The Hyuuga have the branch family and the main family, and…."

Naruto told the history of the Hyuuga family to the best of his knowledge, including Neji's seal and the stuff between the main family and the branch family. Kankuro winced.

'_No wonder he's so cold, I wouldn't be too friendly if I went through that either.'_

Gaara, being Gaara, wasn't moved.

"…So?"

"So! I don't want 'im to go into depression or something! I wonder what's bothering 'im?"

"… I think I know but he can't do anything about it."

"Really? Tell me!"

"… It's nothing; he'll probably be over it soon."

"Anou… If you say so Gaara. Hey, let's put on our pajamas now! They look really comfortable!"

"You guys have pajamas? How old are you, six?"

Gaara glared at his brother, who was trying to hold in a snicker.

"Hey, pajamas are for everyone! At least Gaara and I don't have weird makeup on!"

"It's not makeup; it's an artistic paint design!"

"The kid has a point Kankuro, it does look pretty weird."

Temari came into the living room.

"You should take it off once in a while. You'll never get a girlfriend at this rate you know."

Kankuro threw his hands into the air in frustration.

"Will you guys lay off my artistic paint design? Also, who said I was looking for a girlfriend? Just because you can't get a boy-"

Temari's fan suddenly appeared in her hands and Kankuro decided it was a good time to exit.

'_Why the hell do I have to have two violent siblings? This sucks…'_

Kankuro left the room quickly. Temari turned to the two boys.

"I think it's about time for bed, what do you guys think?"

"Yeah, I'm tired! Come on Gaara, let's put on our pajamas!"

"… Hn."

'_Why do they have to be green panda pajamas…? If I ever find the creator of the Jadepanda© clothes line, I'll crush them in my Sabaku Kyuu!_

_

* * *

**The next day**_

Gai had just finished his 500 laps around Konoha and was thinking while doing his 3000 morning push ups. Who could have captured his rival's affections? What virtuous maid could have so wormed her way into the copy nin's heart to depress him so much he could not even battle his rival the Green Beast! All of a sudden he caught sight of one of his youthful students!

"Neji-kun! What are you doing this most virtuous and youthful morning? Training perhaps?"

"…Ohayo Gai-sensei."

Gai noticed that his student had a peculiar look on his face. It was… the look of a broken heart!

"Neji-kun! Are you perhaps suffering from the pain of a broken heart? Oh, the tragedy of youth!"

Before Neji could get away Gai embraced him with tears in his eyes. Neji shuddered in horror, which Gai mistook for overwhelming sadness. He released Neji (to his relief) and struck his 'nice guy' pose.

"Fear not my youthful student! For now you must find a new object of affection! Do not look back on your lost affections, but look forward to finding a new one! Love will find you again soon enough!"

Neji would never admit it, but his Sensei's speech made him feel slightly better. He gave a slight smile.

"Arigato Gai-sensei."

He turned to leave.

"Ah, one moment Neji! I must ask… Has there been any recent gossip concerning my ultimate rival Kakashi? Anything about him having taken a liking to someone?"

"…Not to my knowledge Gai-sensei. Maybe you should ask Tenten?"

"Ah, good idea! Now go, as I do not wish to keep you from your training! Have a youthful day!"

* * *

"…Wow, that Gai is pretty inspirational. I think that Neji needs some help finding a new object of affection though, what do you think Hina-chan?" 

"A-anou, w-we should. N-Neji-niisan isn't the most social person…"

"It's decided then! We might need some help with this though. Can you ask the Konoha Yaoi Fangirl club? You're a member right? They might be able to help. Lets see if we can arrange club collaboration, the KYF club and the GaaNaru fanclub!"

"H-hai T.C.-san!"

"Just call me T.C. Hina-chan, we're friends right?"

"H-hai!"

The president and new vice-president of the GaaNaru fanclub went to arrange a club collaboration of epic proportions.

* * *

"Sakura-chan? You're the president of the KYF club?" 

"T.C.-san? You're the president of a GaaNaru fanclub?"

The girls stared at each other for a bit then shrugged it off.

"Okay T.C.-san, why did you and Hinata-san want to call for club collaboration?"

All members of both the KYF club and the GaaNaru club were currently gathered outside swapping pictures, gossip, merchandise, and waiting for the meeting to start. They quieted when T.C. raised her hand for silence.

"The KYF club is devoted to all current yaoi couples in Konoha. The GaaNaru fanclub is devoted to Gaara and Naruto. The cousin of our vice-president had a crush on Naru-kun, as is now depressed. Hinata and I want to find him a boyfriend. Does anyone know who we could pair with Hyuuga Neji?"

There was an immediate uproar. Girls began talking excitedly, wondering who to pair Neji-kun with. Temari suddenly got an evil idea.

"I know!"

The girls stared at her.

"I suggest that we pair Neji with my brother Kankuro!"

That raised more than a few eyebrows.

"Hm, that's kind of an unusual pairing…"

"Yeah, I was thinking Lee/Neji..."

"But it could work…"

T.C. and Sakura raised their hands for silence.

"Actually Temari-san, we had both of those two in our custody yesterday!"

Temari raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yep, they were spying on our club and we apprehended them. We also… convinced them to help us out. What if we had them spend time together and get to know each other?"

"That could work. Kankuro really needs to have a real relationship; he's too into his freaky puppets."

"So we're together for this?"

"Yep!"

Kurenai appeared.

"Does the GaaNaru fanclub know about the KakaIru pairing?"

T.C. squealed.

"OMG, did Kakashi-sensei finally make a move? It's about time! How did Iruka-sensei react?"

Kurenai smirked.

"Actually Kakashi's getting rather depressed. He doesn't know what to do next. Guess who promised to help him?"

"Who?"

"Who else but Maito Gai?"

Everyone in the room started to crack up.

"OMG, poor Kakashi!"

"Hey, Gai might be able to help! He's pretty cool."

"Well-

Kurenai held up her hand for silence.

"I think we should let Gai figure it out and try to help Kakashi. He might be rather strange, but he's a good guy. All he has to do is figure out who Kakashi likes."

"He doesn't know yet?"

"He thinks it's a girl."

"Isn't he going to be surprised…"

Thus the meeting ended and some members began to plan a huge Konoha Yaoi convention for later in the year to spread gossip, pictures, and maybe attract new members.

TBC

* * *

If anyone has ideas for what Gai should do, I'm up for 'em! Hope u liked the chapter. I'm tired… -yawn- 

Please review, it gives the authoress energy to continue the fic… -zzz-


	17. Chapter 17

Yay, my reviewers are my muses! All of your support and helpful comments and idea's really keeps this fic going, and I thank all of you! This chapter is devoted to all of my awesome reviewers!

Gai: Alas, Tina-chan does not own Naruto! She does thank her youthful readers for giving her ideas though! -nice guy pose-

* * *

The next day Temari told all of the boys that there was going to be a festival and that they were all going. Naruto got excited and began jumping up and down; Gaara was excited inwardly but stayed quiet and stoic on the outside and Kankuro shrugged. Temari had bought yukata for everyone, and sent them upstairs to change. When they came back Naruto was grinning, Gaara looked annoyed, and Kankuro folded his arms sulkily, as Temari had told him that he couldn't take his puppet Karasu with him. Naruto's yukata was orange and patterned with pink fishcakes, with a bright blue obi. Gaara's was green with a giant panda embroidered on the back and a red obi. Kankuro's was dark purple with a white obi, and Temari's was lilac with a yellow obi. Once they were set they started to walk towards the festival. 

Neji escorted Hinata and T.C. to the festival. He had been completely against the idea of the two girls going by themselves and felt that it was his duty to go with them. T.C. had smiled when she noticed how protective Neji was of his cousin.

'_I guess he's not a complete prick after all.'_

He was currently dressed in a white yukata with a dark purple obi. Hinata was wearing a light blue yukata with a lilac obi, and T.C. was wearing a lavender one with a dark blue obi. They were almost there when they ran into Gaara and Naruto's party.

"N-Naruto-kun!"

"Hey Hinata-chan!"

"Fancy seeing you here Temari-san!"

"You too T.C.-san. Is this your escort?"

"Oh, hi Neji."

"…Hi Naruto. I'll see you later Hinata-sama, I'm going to wander around for a bit.

Neji left, leaving a stricken Hinata and a worried Naruto. Gaara and T.C. noticed and tried to lift their friend's spirits.

"Hina-chan lets go yo-yo fishing! **(1)** Do you and Naruto want to come too Gaara?"

"…Naruto lets go. I've never gone yo-yo fishing."

Naruto was shocked that Gaara would want to go yo-yo fishing, but was happy when Gaara said that he would try to win one for him. Hinata was happy because T.C. said the same, and the two pairs went off to snag some yo-yo's. Temari headed toward the trinket booths, and Kankuro went to the food stalls. He bought some **dango** then wandered around looking at the different games and toys being offered. He was passing by an alley when he though he saw a white bundle on the ground. Closer inspection proved the bundle to be a person with his hands around his knees. The person happened to be Hyuuga Neji, who had recently been crying but had desisted when he felt another presence near. Neji looked up to see the freaky paint faced guy looking at him.

'_What was his name again? Oh yeah, Kankuro. What's he doing here?'_

Neji wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

"What are you staring at?"

He meant for his voice to sound cold but the tone broke a little. Kankuro noticed.

_Jeez, wonder what's wrong with him. -sigh- Guess I should help, I can't just leave him sitting here…'_

Kankuro offered his hand.

"Get up; you're getting your yukata dirty. What are you doing here anyway?"

Neji stared at the hand for a moment, and then decided to take it.

"…None of your business."

"Well excuse me for trying to help. Have something sweet, you look like you're about to die or something. Is it normal for you to be crying in an alley?"

Neji glared at him as he accepted some dango.

"I was not crying."

"Sure you weren't. C'mon lets go find your cousin, when you left she was really worried. Uzumaki was too."

Neji stiffened at the name.

"…I'll go later."

Kankuro sighed impatiently; Neji was staring to get on his nerves.

"Look Hyuuga, Naruto's with my brother now so get over it. If you really liked him then you should accept his decision. Move on with your life, or are you planning on being depressed forever about something you can't change and worrying the people who care about you?"

Neji looked like he had been slapped in the face.

'_Oops, maybe I shouldn't have said it like that…'_

Suddenly his face returned to normal and he smirked.

"You know, you sound a lot smarter than you look."

Neji took a bite of the dango in his hand and went to search for Hinata. Kankuro blinked.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!"

Neither of them noticed a smirking Temari looking at them, hidden in the crowd.

* * *

Neji walked through the crowd, thinking about what Kankuro had told him. 

"…_He was right. I should get over this, and I will. Who knew that someone who looks so stupid can give good advice?'_

Neji snickered when he remembered the look on Kankuro's face after his less than flattering remark. Amusing… Suddenly he came upon Hinata,T.C., Naruto, and Gaara. Hinata was happily sporting a blue yo-yo and a stuffed frog, and Naruto had an orange yo-yo and a humongous stuffed panda. T.C. and Gaara looked mighty pleased with themselves.

"Neji-niisan!"

Hinata came up to him worriedly.

'…_Paint-face was right; she really was worried about me. I can't believe I made her so worried, and I was rather cruel to her last time…'_

Neji felt horrible about himself. He smiled at Hinata to show her that he was okay.

"Are you having fun Hinata-sama?"

"Hai! T.C.-chan won me a frog at the shuriken throwing booth!"

Hinata beamed at T.C., who blushed slightly. T.C. looked at Neji and smiled.

"Glad you're all right pale eyes, you had Hina-chan worried about you. Where'd you get the dango?"

"Paint-face gave me some."

"…Paint-face?"

Gaara was suddenly interested.

"…You met Kankuro?"

"Hai. He's smarter than he looks."

Gaara wondered what Neji meant by that but decided not to pry. At least not yet. Naruto was happy.

"I'm glad you're all right now Neji, ya seemed weird earlier. Hey Gaara, let's see if we can win some more stuff!"

"…Okay."

The boys left to look for more games. Suddenly Temari came up with Kankuro.

"Look who I found! Oh, hi Neji! T.C., Hinata, I found a booth with some wonderful jewelry! Do you want to look?"

"Hai!"

The three girls went off, leaving Kankuro and Neji alone once again. Kankuro raised his eyebrows at Neji.

"So do you usually insult people who try to help, or am I a special case?"

"… Thanks for saying what you did. I guess I really needed to hear it straight from someone, and that's what you gave me. Also, that was more of an observation than an insult."

"Well your observations are pretty insulting."

"Guess you just have to deal with it, don't you?"

"…Asshole."

"Weirdo."

Kankuro was annoyed, but talking to the Hyuuga was kind of fun in a weird insulting way.

"So are you going to stand their insulting me all night or do you want to try some games Hyuuga?"

"Why don't you try some?"

Kankuro rolled his eyes; the Hyuuga kid sure liked to be annoying.

"Fine."

He went to the knock-down-the-bottle booth and won a giant white stuffed tiger. He gave it to Neji.

"Here."

Neji stared at him.

"Why are you giving it to me?"

Kankuro shrugged.

"Just take it. Anyway, you're the only person in the group who doesn't have a toy or something."

Neji was somewhat touched. Who knew that Kankuro cared?

"…Arigato."

"Yeah. Hey, do you want to get something to eat?"

"Sure. I guess. The closest place is Ichiraku I think."

So the two headed for the ramen booth. They found Temari, Gaara, Naruto, T.C., and Hinata there as well. They all ordered something and sat down to eat and socialize. Hinata noticed Neji's tiger right away.

"T-that's a cute **tora** N-Neji niisan. W-where did you g-get it?"

"It was a gift Hinata-sama."

"O-oh. D-did Kankuro-san g-give it to you?"

"…Hai."

Gaara noticed Temari and T.C. smirk into their noodles. If he had any, he would have raised his eyebrows.

'…_What are they looking so smug about?'_

Suddenly Neji remembered something.

"Hey Naruto?"

"Yeah Neji?"

"Does Kakashi-sensei have a crush on someone?"

Naruto, Temari, and T.C. all choked on their ramen. Gaara banged Naruto on the back a few times to clear his air passage.

"Nani!"

"Gai-sensei was asking me about it. He seemed to think that Kakashi had a crush on someone."

"Uh, nope, I have no idea if Kakashi-sensei has a crush on someone."

Gaara was staring at T.C. and Temari, who were trying not to break out in laughter.

"Neesan, do you know anything about this?"

Temari tried to look as innocent as possible.

"No, I have no idea otouto. What makes you think that?"

Gaara gave her an, 'I know you're lying' glare but decided to drop it for now. Suddenly Kakashi and Iruka entered Ichiraku and caught sight of them all, looking surprised. Naruto grinned at both his former sensei.

"Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei! Over here, over here!"

They both came over and Iruka smiled at is former student.

"Hello Naruto-kun! Oh, and Hinata, Neji and Gaara are here too?"

"Yep! And these 're Gaara's siblings Temari and Kankuro!"

Everyone exchanged polite greetings. The two teachers ordered some ramen and sat down with the kids. They heard all about how the festival had gone so far, and were invited to sit with them to watch the fireworks later at night, an invitation they accepted. When everyone was done eating they decided to wander around some more before meeting later that night for fireworks. Temari went off with T.C., Hinata, Neji and Kankuro. Naruto and Gaara joined Iruka and Kakashi.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hai Naruto?"

"Is it true that you have a crush on someone? Neji says that Gai-sensei has been saying that you do!"

Kakashi's visible eye widened a bit, and then an anger mark appeared on his face. Gaara noticed that Iruka turned visibly red.

"…So Gai's been saying that to people?"

"Well, I think that he just asked Neji about it so far. Is it true?"

"Well-

"My eternal rival! Fancy meeting you here!"

Kakashi turned around.

"…Gai, what are you doing here?"

TBC

Hee, a somewhat cliffie! Why is Gai there? You have to stay tuned for the next chapter to find out! BTW, I just started another story called 'Different Worlds Collide.' It's a Naruto story, but on a completely different arc than this one. I'm planning on it being a really long fic, and it has Gaara and Naruto in it. It also has Gaara and Naru. Wonder what I'm talking about? Go check it out!

(1)- yo-yo fishing is when you try to pick up a balloony yo-yo thing with a hook. Bad description, I know.

Tora- tiger

dango- a sweet dumpling usually served on a stick.s Anko ate some during the exams.

Please review, I love my reviewers! -hug-


	18. Chapter 18

Okay, here's the next chapter! Definite pairing will be revealed, and I have one surprise pairing that will be showing up soon, just not in this chapter. Enjoy! oh, and thanks to **thechickenlittle** for giving me an idea.

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of the genius Masashi Kishimoto. All I own is T.C. and Keesha.

* * *

Kakashi turned around. 

"…Gai, what are you doing here?"

Gai grinned happily.

"I came here to enjoy this festival of youth! Ah, I see you are 'hanging out' with your student and his friend! This just shows how 'hip' and 'cool' you are! Ah, is Iruka-sensei here too?"

Kakashi's eye twitched.

"Gai, could I talk to you in private?"

Gai got an understanding look on his face and clapped Kakashi around the shoulder.

"Why my rival, is this about your heartsickness? It pains me to see you in denial! I will help you just as I vowed, I just need to know who has captured your affections!"

Iruka turned an interesting shade of red, and if Kakashi didn't have his mask on his face would look about the same. Gai noticed how uncomfortable Kakashi was.

"Aha, I see that you are embarrassed to admit it in front of your student and his teacher! Don't worry; we shall talk about it in private!"

Gai dragged Kakashi away. Naruto looked at Iruka, who was still bright red.

"Anou, are you okay Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka was not okay. How did Gai get involved in this? No doubt if he found out the news would somehow spread throughout the entire village, and Iruka was definitely uncomfortable with that, even if he was attracted to Kakashi…

'…_Well, if anyone finds out I think Naruto has a right to know first.'_

Iruka took a deep breath.

"Naruto?"

"Hai Iruka-sensei?"

"…What would you say if I told you that Kakashi liked me?"

"…WHAT!"

Iruka flinched; he had been expecting that reaction, but he didn't know if it was a good what or a bad what.

"…Do you like him back?"

Iruka and Naruto looked at Gaara in surprise. Gaara just stared at Iruka with his usual emotionless glare.

"…well?"

"…Yeah. I think I do."

Iruka suddenly found the ground extremely interesting. He was waiting…

"Well, Kakashi-sensei's kinda a Hentai, but if he likes ya he'll probly' take care of ya, so I guess he's okay. If he does anything weird just tell me, 'cause Gaara I will kick his ass!"

Iruka stared at Naruto, then smiled.

"Arigato Naruto-kun."

Naruto hugged his favorite sensei.

"Heh, no need ta' thank me, Kakashi-sensei's not a bad guy really. Um, how long have you two been…?"

"Well, he confessed soon after Gaara came to stay…"

"…You mean when you guys were spying on us?"

"When they were what?"

Iruka grinned sheepishly.

'_Busted.'_

"You caught us, didn't you Gaara?"

"…Yes. Why?"

"…It was for Temari and Sakura."

Gaara and Naruto's eye's widened.

"WHAT!"

"Anou, I'm going to try to find Kakashi now. Bye!"

Iruka left a seething Gaara and a blushing Naruto.

* * *

"So my eternal rival, who is the virtuous maiden who has captured your affections?" 

Kakashi was itching to stab Gai with a kunai. First of all, Iruka was not a girl! Second of all, it was none of Gai's business! Third of all, why was the man so damn persistent?

"Gai, there is no maiden. Please just drop it!"

"It's nothing to be ashamed of my rival! All must fall in love, even if they want to harden their hearts to it! Now, tell me!"

Kakashi knew that Gai was never going to let up until he told him.

'_Gods give me strength…'_

"Fine Gai, I like Iruka okay? Umino Iruka. Are you happy now?"

Gai had a slightly perplexed look on his face for a moment, then all of a sudden tears ran down his face and he gave Kakashi a mighty embrace, which scared the crap out of the copy-nin.

"My rival! I had no idea that you were in love with a man! The kind of strength and pure devotedness to your love that it takes to confess such a thing… It moves me! Congratulations on finding your love, and I vow to help you win fair Iruka's heart!"

"Gai…you're…choking…me…"

Gai let go of Kakashi (to his immense relief).

"Kakashi! Lets go, the fireworks are going to start soon!"

Iruka appeared and grabbed Kakashi by the arm.

"Gomen nasai Gai-sensei, we must go now, the kids are waiting for us. It was nice to see you"

Iruka started to drag Kakashi away. Kakashi looked back and saw Gai give him a huge thumbs up and a wink.

'_I have a feeling I may live to regret telling that guy…'_

_

* * *

_Gaara was still seething and Naruto noticed the bloodlust rising in his eyes.

"Anou, if they wanted Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei to spy on us then they must have had a good reason right?"

"…They better have a good reason."

"They were probly' just worried about us or something, 'specially your sister. She's the one who gave you the 'talk' after we got together right? And she also got all those cool clothes… its' like she really wanted us together."

Gaara felt his anger dissipating.

"…I guess you're right. Let's go or we'll be late for the fireworks."

Gaara grabbed Naruto's hand and started to walk. Naruto smiled and gripped back; it was nice when Gaara grabbed his hand… like forging an unbreakable bond.

* * *

Kankuro sighed; T.C. and Hinata had disappeared and Temari had gone after a guy, leaving him alone with the Hyuuga. Again.

'_Is this some sort of conspiracy?'_

"Hey Hyuuga."

"What?"

"Are you okay now, or am I going to have to deal with you crying your eyes out again?"

Neji glared at him.

"I told you, I was not crying. Anyway, it's not like I asked for help."

"Then why did you accept it?"

"…I don't know."

'_It's just… you were the only person besides Naruto who seemed to care.'_

"Let's go or we'll be late to the fireworks. Or are you too afraid to show your painted face to the public? -smirk-"

"What! What's that supposed to mean!"

"What do you think it means?"

Neji went off in the direction of the fireworks.

'_Heh, I love teasing this guy'_

Kankuro seethed.

'_What the hell is with him? I was trying to help. Feh, arrogant prick… Why the hell do I even care? Gods…"_

He followed after Neji.

* * *

"…This is it! Come on Hina-chan!" 

Hinata followed T.C. into the coolest yaoi/yuri shop she had ever seen. There were shelves upon shelves of yaoi/yuri titles from all over, merchandise, magazines… Everything you could ever what. She was thrilled.

"T-this is… Its… w-wow."

T.C. gave her a cheery smile.

"Yep! Best of all, its run by my aunt Keesha! She's awesome!"

"Is someone talking about me?"

They turned around to see her aunt walking in from a backroom. Keesha smiled at them.

"T.C., it's been a while since you brought in a friend! What's your name sweetie?"

T.C. put her arm around Hinata's shoulders.

"This is Hyuuga Hinata! She's yaoi obsessed like me. Is it okay if we look around auntie?"

"Of course, you're my best customer after all."

T.C. showed Hinata around the shop. Hinata was happy.

'_T.C.-chan is so nice… this is the most fun I've had in my life!"_

She was almost disappointed when T.C. said that it was time to go and see the fireworks.

"You two come back soon, okay?"

"Will do auntie!"

"H-hai! A-arigato Keesha-san!"

T.C. grabbed Hinata's arm as they left the shop, making her blush uncontrollably.

"I wonder if everyone is there already."

Hinata was distracted by the close proximity of their bodies.

"H-hai."

* * *

Everyone arrived at the chosen spot a little while later. Naruto was surprised to see Temari arrive with none other than Nara Shikamaru. He raised his eyebrows at them and Shikamaru stared at him and Gaara for a second. Then he deemed it too troublesome and shrugged his shoulders. Neji stared at T.C. and Hinata; Hinata was looking happy and flushed, and almost clung to T.C.'s arm. Kankuro looked at Temari for a second and was about to comment when she glared at him and mouthed, 'Say anything and you die.' He decided to keep his mouth shut. Neji noticed this and smirked. Kakashi and Iruka eyed all the pairs with interest. Temari held out a bundle.

"Alright, I brought blankets for everyone, but we all have to share in pairs. You guys can pick them out."

The pairs ended up being: Gaara/Naruto, Kakashi/Iruka, Temari/Shikamaru, T.C./Hinata, and Neji/Kankuro. (hint hint)

TBC

* * *

From now on I will not be changing parings. Sorry if you didn't get the one you wanted. Next chapter I'll try to put some romance for everyone, Hope you enjoyed this chapter! 

Please review, it helps feed my soul. (Really, it does. It's what keeps me writing.)


	19. Chapter 19

I loved writing this chapter. It's so… -cries-

Aishiteru- I love you

* * *

Temari sat down in the blanket next to Shikamaru. He was lying down and gazing at the stars. She looked up at them too; there were thousands of them sparkling in the sky like diamonds. Temari was in awe. 

"Beautiful…"

"…Yeah."

Temari assumed Shikamaru was talking about the stars but when she turned around he was looking straight at her. She felt her face heat up unintentionally.

'_No! Bad blushing, bad! Damn, I hope he doesn't think I'm some sappy girly girl… no!'_

While Temari was mentally berating herself Shikamaru looked at her with amusement.

'_One compliment and she acts like I said something embarrassing… how troublesome.'_

He chuckled slightly and Temari turned even redder.

"What!"

"It's funny, that's all. One minute you're acting all tough and in control and the next you're blushing over being called beautiful."

"I'm not blushing!"

"Your cheeks are red."

"…So!"

"Heh, I think this is why I like you. You're interesting; troublesome at times, but still interesting."

Temari smirked slightly.

"Do you find everything troublesome?"

"Mostly everything."

"What about this?"

Then she kissed the surprised Nara on the mouth.

* * *

Naruto and Gaara lay side by side with their hands behind their heads and stared at the stars. Naruto's eyes strayed to Gaara and he was left almost breathless; moonlight was pouring over him, accentuating his blood red hair and making his pale skin glow. The dark circles around his eyes accented their vivid green color, and the green of the kimono and red of the obi brought out his eyes and hair even more. 

'_Gaara is… beautiful.'_

Naruto turned around and hugged himself against Gaara chest, soaking in the warmth and comfort that was Gaara. Gaara started to stroke his hair and when Naruto looked up Gaara smiled at him. It was a small smile, but Naruto knew that it was a smile reserved for him.

"Gaara…"

Then Gaara was kissing him, his hand entangling his blonde hair. Naruto gave in willingly, wrapping both arms around his neck and moaning softly into his mouth. When they broke apart Naruto only had one thing to say.

"Aishiteru Gaara."

Gaara smiled that small smile again. The one only Naruto could get out of him.

"…Aishiteru."

* * *

Iruka looked at the two boys and made an 'awwwww' noise. Kakashi looked at the two boys wistfully. 

'_I wish we could be like that…'_

Iruka lay back on the blanket, happy for Naruto.

'…_So why does seeing them like that make me happy and wistful at the same time?'_

Kakashi looked at Iruka; the moonlight illuminated his tan skin and made his scar stand out, but that was okay because Kakashi thought that it looked cute. Everything about Iruka was cute… even though he was a full grown man. Kakashi bit his lip underneath his mask and wondered what to say. He took a breath and sat down next to Iruka.

"You know, I've never really been attracted to anyone before I met you."

Iruka turned to look at him and Kakashi took that as a sign to continue.

"I don't know what it is… but I really like you. A lot. It's not a joke or infatuation, I just… You make me feel like a person. Like Kakashi; I can act like myself and you accept it, like you accept everyone. I guess I just wanted you to know… my feelings are real."

Kakashi mumbled the last part and looked down at the ground. He'd said what he wanted.

"Kakashi."

He looked up; Iruka was staring at him intently.

"…I feel the same way. It's a mutual attraction, so don't worry or be all awkward. Just be yourself, because that's what I like about you."

"Just be myself?"

"Hai."

Kakashi let that sink in for a moment. Then he pulled down his mask and leaned over Iruka, showing him the genuine smile in his lips.

"Okay."

Lips locked with each other as Kakashi showed Iruka what he learned from reading his beloved orange books. Iruka was breathless.

* * *

T.C. lay down on the blanket and sighed contentedly; she loved looking at the stars at nighttime, cold and all. 

'_I hope they start the fireworks soon…'_

Hinata looked at her friend. T.C. had her long black hair out of its usual ponytail and it was spread around her, giving her an almost angelic appearance. The moonlight caught on the gold hoops in her ears, and her dark tan skin stood out against the lavender of her yukata. Her dark brown eyes behind her green glasses were focused on the sky, and she was smiling slightly. Hinata felt a blush rise to her cheeks.

'_Beautiful…'_

T.C. looked at her and was slightly concerned by her friends red cheeks.

"Are you okay Hina-chan? You look a bit flushed… Do you have a fever?"

She sat up and put her hand on Hinata's forehead.

'_Her temperature feels normal…'_

Hinata could feel herself grow redder at the sudden contact.

'_Her hand is warm…'_

Then T.C. pulled her had away. Hinata shivered at the loss of heat; she also felt a sudden pain in her chest... T.C. noticed the shiver.

"Oh, you must be cold! Here…"

She dug in her bag for a second and pulled out another smaller blanket with Pokemon characters on it; then she draped it around Hinata's shoulders and smiled at her.

"Is that better Hina-chan?"

"H-hai."

Hinata wrapped the blanket around her tighter.

'_She's always nice to me… Really nice. And her smile is so kind. This feeling reminds me of what I felt for Naruto-kun.'_

Suddenly T.C. wrapped her arm around Hinata's shoulder.

"The fireworks should be staring soon!'

Hinata looked at her cheerful face and blushed. T.C. was so warm… Warm and kind.

'_Is this… love?'_

_

* * *

_  
Kankuro sat on the blanket and buried his face in is knees.

'_Why did I have to get stuck with the sadist Hyuuga again? I swear this is a conspiracy!'_

Neji looked at his behavior with amusement.

"If I didn't know better I would say that you don't enjoy my company."

Kankuro looked at him, annoyed.

"Well obviously you don't know better because I really don't."

"And why would that be?"

"Oh I don't know. Maybe because you insult me every chance you get?"

"I had no idea you were so sensitive. Maybe you should go crying to your sister."

Kankuro gritted his teeth.

'_This guy really knows how to get under my skin…'_

"Will you just shut up? Gods, why did I even bother to help you out it's obvious you don't appreciate it! Are all Hyuuga's stuck up bastards, or are you a special case?"

Neji was shocked for a moment; he didn't know that Kankuro would get that worked up over his insults.

'_He thinks I'm a stuck up bastard? Maybe I could be a little nicer to him… He did help me out after all.'_

"…Sorry. It's just… I'm not used to accepting help. From anyone. I guess I should say… Thanks for caring."

It was Kankuro's turn to be slightly shocked; who knew that the Hyuuga would apologize?

"Well... you're welcome I guess. Hey, is that your tiger plushie?"

He pointed to a lump under the blanket. Neji brought it out.

"Yeah. Thanks for giving it to me by the way."

"What are you going to name it?"

Neji looked at him like he was a moron.

"…Name it? What, do I look like some little kid?"

"Hey! I have a puppet named Karasu. There's nothing wrong with naming things! Jeez, why do have to act so superior to everyone all the time? Its like you have some huge stick shoved up your ass!"

"WHAT?"

Neji glared daggers at Kankuro.

'_Fucking paint-faced baka! How dare he insult me like that! Saying…'_

Neji suddenly got a mental image of himself with a stuck up his ass. His lips twitched. Then he snickered. Then the Hyuuga Neji was laughing. Laughing. Kankuro stared in utter amazement.

'_What the hell? He can laugh? At an insult?'_

Neji stopped laughing and tried to compose himself. He then noticed Kankuro staring at him with a stupid look on his face, and that set him off again. When his laughter had subsided he lay back on the blanket trying to catch his breath. Then he turned to Kankuro.

"...I like you, you amuse me. I'm going to name the tiger plushie Kankuro."

Before Kankuro could react to that certain statement the fireworks went off, turning both of the boys gazes to the sky.

* * *

Temari made out with Shikamaru with the fireworks going off in the background. 

Naruto was cuddled up to Gaara, with them both looking at the vibrant display.

Iruka sat on Kakashi's lap, both of the men enjoying the show.

T.C. had her arm around Hinata, the pale eyed girl basking in the warmth of the other and both of them looking at the sparks flying through the air.

Kankuro gave up trying to comprehend Neji's words and watched the fireworks while Neji used tiger plushie Kankuro as a pillow and did the same.

TBC

* * *

I loved writing this… especially the GaaNaru part! -sigh- fluffy… Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers, I love you all! Ooo, I just posted a funny GaaNaru oneshot. Read it if you want some laughs! Hee, hope you guys liked this chapter, see you next time! 

Please review, 'cause I really like this chapter and want feedback!


	20. Chapter 20

Mahahaha, another pairing! Here's the surprise one. If you don't like it… -shrug- Oh well! Love my reviewers as always, they motivate me to write!

Akamaru: bark bark ruff. (Tina-chan does not own Naruto)

* * *

After the fireworks were over everyone (some reluctantly) met back in a group like they had agreed earlier. Once everyone had gathered they split up to go home. Neji and Hinata decided to walk T.C. home. Gaara walked Naruto back to his apartment. Shikamaru walked Temari back to the Yadoya. Kankuro said that he would go there later and left. This left Iruka and Kakashi standing there, wondering what to say.

"…Ah, did you have a good time Iruka?"

"Hai, it was… fun."

There was a rather awkward silence. Both were somewhat shy about discussing their earlier _actions _and didn't know where to go from there.

"Anou, I guess I'll head home now. Goodbye Kakashi."

"Hai. Ah, Iruka?"

"Hai?"

"Do you want to… hang out tomorrow? I could pick you up… is twelve okay?"

Iruka smiled.

"Hai, that sounds fun. Oyasumi nasai Kakashi."

Kakashi grinned under his mask and waved.

* * *

Gai was almost weeping in his hiding place. How could the oh so hip and cool Hatake Kakashi be so utterly hopeless when it came to the youthful beauty of romance and courtship? His rival was almost painfully shy! 

"A rather awkward couple, aren't they?"

Gai looked up in shock; who could have come up to him without him even noticing their presence? He was met by a pair of amused brown eyes.

"Friends of yours? Nice of you to be looking after them."

The woman in front of him was about his age, with short red dreadlocks that famed her brown face. What intrigued Gai was the fact that her gaze was full of youthful energy and kindness! How could someone his age still be so radiant with the power of youth? It was amazing!

"If I may be so bold to ask, what is your name? I myself am none other than the Green Beast of Konoha, Maito Gai!"

"It's nice to meet you Maito-san, my name is Nadeshiko Keesha. Those two are friends of yours, right?"

"Hai! They are in the springtime of their youthful romance, yet my ultimate rival is so shy! He did not even think to accompany his beloved to his apartment!"

"And just why were you spying on them?"

"Ah, I have vowed to help my ultimate rival win the affections of his beloved! Maito Gai never breaks his vow, even in the face of death!"

Gai struck a noble pose. Then Keesha did something wonderful: she smiled at him. Gai was captivated by that single action; there was warmth in her gaze, admiration, respect. So much sincere emotion; to Gai, her smile was…

"I think it's wonderful that you support him so much. It's nice to see someone like you, when there are so many hateful people in this world who would crush love merely for a biased opinion. All people should be free to love, no matter what race, age, or gender. Love doesn't discriminate; it's like a flower, waiting for the right moment to open, just as someone waits for the person they truly love, regardless of who or what they are."

Keesha said that with complete sincerity and strength. Gai felt something bloom inside him; the way she spoke of love and its forms, it moved him to his very core. Then he found himself once more captivated by a pair of warm brown eyes.

"So how do you plan on helping your friend? Have you thought about it yet?"

"No, but I shall! In fact, if I fail to come up with a plan tonight, I will run 100 laps around Konoha!"

He struck his 'nice guy' pose. Keesha giggled inwardly; this guy was funny. But he also really wanted to help his friend.

'_Guess it's time to use the old matchmaking skills!'_

"Maito-san, if you don't mind I could help you out."

Gai looked at her, grinning.

"Hai, your help would be greatly appreciated! I am greatly moved by your concern for my ultimate rival's plight!"

Keesha grinned.

"The springtime of youth waits for no one! Especially youthful love, hai Maito-san?"

Gai felt his heart go thump-thump, but kept on his cheerful smile. Finally, someone who truly appreciates the wonderfulness of youth!

"Hai!"

Keesha pulled out a business card and handed it to Gai.

"Meet me here tomorrow at about 12. Is that okay?"

Gai struck his 'nice guy' pose again.

"I shall most assuredly be there on time! If not, I will do 1000 push-ups in punishment!"

"I'll see you then."

Keesha walked down the street. Gai held the business card in his hand. He felt unusually happy for some reason…

* * *

Keesha went home to find T.C. there already. 

"Did you have fun at the festival honey?"

"Hai! Did something doo happen? You look awfully cheerful today..."

"Oh , I met someone interesting before I came home. Really nice guy, said his name was Maito Gai. _I've never met a man with such a cheerful aura_'

_'Sounds like you think of him as more than someone 'intersting'... Isn't that right Auntie?'_

* * *

'_I like you, you amuse me. I'm going to name the tiger plushie Kankuro. _

Kankuro went onto the training grounds, collapsed under a random tree, and groaned.

'_Kami, why me! Why do I have to deal with a Hyuuga who insults me one moment, apologizes the next, and then names tiger plushies after me? Why?'_

He could find no explanations for the Hyuuga's behavior and that upset him even more. It was too confusing!

"…What are you doing?"

Kankuro looked up slowly.

"…Gaara?"

If Gaara had been a more expressive person he probably would have rolled his eyes; duh, who else would it be?"

"…What's wrong?"

Kankuro stared.

'…_Gaara's asking me what's wrong. Its official, the world is ending and the apocalypse is near.'_

Gaara was starting to get slightly annoyed; Kankuro was still looking at him with a somewhat horrified expression.

'_Damn Naruto and his puppy dog look!'_

_-Flashback-_

"Ne, Gaara?"

"…What?"

"Did you think that your brother looked kinda… I dunno, depressed when we left?"

Gaara thought about it. His brother had looked weirder than usual…

"…Yes, so what?"

"Maybe you should try ta find out what's wrong with 'im. I'd be brotherly bonding, ya know? Like what you did with Temari."

"…I don't want to."

"Ah, please Gaara!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

Then Naruto did it: the dreaded watery chibi-eyed puppy dog look.

'_Fuck.'_

"…Okay."

-_End flashback-_

So that's why Gaara was now trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with his brother. He was kind of curious himself…

"…It's obvious there's something wrong. Tell me **now**."

Then Gaara did his death glare of doom. Maybe not the most endearing way to go about it, but hey, he's Gaara. Kankuro thought about it.

'_Okay, my homicidal little brother actually wants to know what's wrong. Strange. Then again, his boyfriend is Uzumaki Naruto. Maybe he'll know about Hyuuga's strange behavior.'_

"…Well…"

Kankuro told Gaara about Neji's strange behavior and his actions at the fireworks. Then he started ranting about how confusing it was, etc. He actually felt better after he told Gaara everything. Gaara looked at him for a bit. Then, the tiniest smirk crossed his face.

"…It sounds like he likes you."

"Yeah, he told me that."

"…Not that like idiot, the other 'like'."

"…WHAT!"

"…Maybe you should talk to Temari about it."

Kankuro calmed down. Yes, maybe Temari could give him a less insane explanation. Then he thought about something.

"…Hey Gaara? Why'd you come here?"

"…."

It was Kankuro's turn to smirk.

"It was Uzumaki right? Heh, sounds like little brothers whipped!"

Gaara glared. It wasn't the normal, 'I'm going to kill you' glare. It was the, 'I'm going to kill you slowly and painfully while pouring sand into the wounds and keeping you alive just so you can suffer even more painfully' glare. Kankuro then did what any sane person would do: he ran away. Gaara contemplated whether to actually kill his brother when he remembered that Naruto was waiting for him. He sent one last glare in his brothers direction then went off toward Naruto's apartment.

* * *

After bidding farewell to T.C., Hinata and Neji walked silently toward the Hyuuga household. T.C. had told Hinata that she could keep the blanket, and it was wrapped tightly around her shoulders. Neji was holding tiger Kankuro. 

"…A-anou, K-Kankuro-san seems nice."

"Hn."

"W-what do you t-think, N-Neji-niisan?"

"…He's okay. Amusing at times. _I don't know much about him though..._'

"O-oh."

They walked in silence for a couple of minutes.

"Hinata-sama, you seem to be good friends with that girl. T.C. right?"

Neji did not miss the heavy blush that appeared on his cousin's face.

"H-hai."

"When did this happen?"

"I-I don't quite…"

Hinata trailed off with another heavy blush, and Neji could tell that she didn't want to talk about it. They walked the rest of the way home in silence, each absorbed in their own thoughts.

* * *

Shikamaru was heading back to his own home when he was passed by a purple blue. When he looked back it was gone. 

'_How troublesome…'_

Temari was about to go upstairs to her room when the door banged open and Kankuro collapsed on the couch.

"Teasing Gaara is dangerous, but so worth it…"

He sat up and saw his sister staring at him curiously. Then he remembered Gaara's advice.

"Hey Temari. What does it mean when someone insults you, apologizes, then names a stuffed animal after you?"

Temari did a smirk similar to Gaara's.

"Well it sounds to me like they like you…"

A look of horror appeared on his face.

"…but I could be wrong. Maybe you should spend more time with them and find out that way."

"I don't want to spend more time with him!"

"Then why do you care so much?"

He had no answer. Temari patted him on the shoulder.

"Spend more time with Neji. It'll be good for you to make a friend."

She walked upstairs to her room.

'_Five, four, three, two, one…"_

"HOW DID YOU KNOW IT WAS NEJI?"

-smirk-

* * *

Naruto stared at Gaara. 

"You think that Neji likes Kankuro?"

"…Maybe not yet, but he's interested."

Naruto thought about it.

'_Hmm, it'd be good for Neji to get a friend. Maybe that would work!'_

"Do to think your brother's interested too?"

"…Yes. Or else he wouldn't make such a big deal out of it."

"Aww, Gaara actually cares!"

"Shut up."

"You're blushing!"

"…"

"Ha, see I was- mmph!"

"…Now you're blushing."

"No fair Gaara!"

* * *

Kakashi was walking down the street when he overheard two people talking. This would not have interested him at all normally, but their topic of conversation did. 

"Have you ever noticed how cure Iruka-sensei is?"

"I know, he's absolutely adorable!"

"It's a wonder he doesn't have a girlfriend yet."

Kakashi grinned to himself.

'_If only they knew…'_

"I've heard he has quite a few admirers though."

"Are you surprised? If he didn't I might go after him myself."

"Yeah, he has his own fanclub!"

Now Kakashi felt… slightly jealous. Iruka had a fanclub?

"He does seem rather… distracted lately. Do you think he finally found someone he likes?"

Maybe, who knows? I hope it's a nice person."

"Yeah, if they aren't careful someone will try to take Iruka from them!"

Kakashi stopped eavesdropping and started to walk home again.

'_No way is someone taking Iruka from me!'_

Kurenai and Anko dropped their henge.

"At least we gave him fair warning."

"I'd hate to see someone break them up, they looked so cute at the festival!"

They gazed lovingly at their camera's and high-fived each other.

TBC

* * *

Alright, Anko and Kurenai gave that warning for a reason. Should the person after Iruka be a real Naruto character or an O.C. , and should it be a girl or a boy? I'm taking votes here people. If it's a Naruto character please give me a name. I'll be waiting, don't forget to vote! 

Please review and vote. Remember, only you can feed the writers soul.


	21. Chapter 21

Readers… I'M SORRY! The site was being evil, and I couldn't access my profile! T.T Here's the update!

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.

* * *

Maito Gai was happy. Actually, he was usually happy but today he was happier than usual. Why, you might ask? He doesn't quite know. 

"Maito-san!"

He turned and grinned blindingly.

"Nadeshiko-san! How wonderful to see you in this beautiful morning of youth! I am here at twelve sharp, just as you have requested of me!"

She gave him that smile again. The one that made his heart beat a little faster and made him feel strangely energetic.

"This way please Maito-san."

They entered the shop that they were standing in front of. Gai looked around and gasped, hand to his heart in wonder. This shop was…

"This is a special shop of mine called Ai. It doubles as a café and… well, I guess you could call it a love shop. We have jewelry that can be hand carved, cards, flowers, books, special things, advice… We get pretty good business, but most of it goes to my other shop which is right next door. " (her yaoi/yuri shop)

She looked at Gai, who had tears streaming down his face.

"You… YOU TRULY CAPTURE ALL THAT IS YOUTHFUL AND PURE! I HAVE NEVER BEFORE SEEN SUCH DEVOTION TO LOVE!"

The smile again, with a slight blush and maybe something more behind the eyes than last time.

"Thank you. There're too many people who find love, but are too afraid to reach out and grab it. I try to make sure they find happiness with the right person. When I succeed, I find happiness also. So, tell me a little about your friend. What's he like? Do you know anything about his boyfriend?"

Gai nodded. Why did he feel so happy…?

* * *

Kankuro had woken up still annoyed from last night. 

'_Gaara, Temari... are you plotting something against me?'_

He groaned and was about to go back to sleep when he heard the melodic voice of his beloved older sister calling to him.

"KANKURO! GET YOUR LAZY ASS OUT OF BED AND COME EAT BREAKFAST!"

Somehow he knew that today was not going to be his day…

* * *

Neji was sleeping. He was sleeping with a stuffed tiger. He had his face buried in the tiger's fur. Hanabi stared before deciding that no, she was not hallucinating and that her older cousin was practically snuggling with a stuffed tiger. She rubbed her eyes and went to her sister's room. Then she stared some more. Hinata had taken down her Naruto shrine. But in its place… 

'…_KAWAII!.'_

She crept into the room. Just as she was about to rip a photo off the wall, she was caught.

"H-Hanabi c-chan, w-what are you doing?"

"Oneechan, can I have some of these pictures? Please?"

Hinata gave her consent. After all, GaaNaru should be shared right?

"That's a cute blanket. Where did you get it?"

Hanabi noted with interest the way her sister's eyes widened and her entire face turned bright red.

"I-I I… F-friend… C-cold… B-b-blanket…."

The younger Hyuuga decided to leave before her older sister hyperventilated from stress of an unknown cause.

* * *

Neji snuggled his face deeper into the pillow. Wait, pillows weren't furry. 

'_Oh, I went to bed with Kankuro… fuck, I hope no one saw me. Why exactly did I go to bed with a stuffed animal?' _

A small voice in the back of his mind answered him.

'_Maybe because it's the first time someone's bothered to think that you wanted one.'_

'_What's that supposed to mean?'_

'_Remember what he said to you?'_

_-Flashback-_

"Just take it. Anyway, you're the only person in the group who doesn't have a toy or something."

_-End flashback- _

'_Yeah, I remember…'_

'_And he helped you out. And gave you food. And made you laugh.'_

'_He insulted me!'_

'_You started it. Besides, you laughed at it anyway.'_

'_And what exactly am I trying to prove to myself?'_

'_You like him.'_

'…_WHAT?'_

'_Fine, you're interested in him.'_

'_Am not.'_

'_Am too.'_

'_Nuh uh.'_

'_Ya huh'_

'_Shut up!'_

'_You just told yourself to shut up dumbass.'_

'_I'm not interested in him!'_

'_You do know what it means when you name a stuffed animal after someone, don't you?'_

'…'

'_Ha.'_

'_I really need to think this out.' _

'_Fine. I'm always here if you need me.'_

Neji opened his eyes and woke up fully.

"…I just had a conversation with myself."

'_And I said that I liked Kankuro.'_

_

* * *

_  
Iruka was freaking out slightly.

'_Ahh, it's almost twelve! …what am I going to do!'_

He'd never had much dating experience before. Even though he knew their feelings for each other were mutual… he was still nervous. Very nervous. Suddenly someone burst through the door.

"IRUKA-SENSEI!"

He barley had time to breathe before he was knocked backwards by a blur of yellow and orange.

"…Hello Naruto."

"Hey, why are you all dressed up Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka looked at himself. He was wearing blue jeans with a white tank top and a blue unbuttoned button up shirt on top. His hair was in its usual ponytail but he had a black head band in place of his usual hitae-ate.

"Anou… I'm going on a date with Kakashi at twelve."

"What! He actually asked you out? Whoa, I thought he was too weird to know how to do that."

"You flatter me Naruto."

Teacher and student looked up to see Kakashi lounging in the doorway. He was wearing black jeans and a dark grey turtle neck that covered the bottom half of his face. In place of his hitae-ate was a regular black bandana.

"…Kakashi-sensei… YOU'RE ON TIME!"

Kakashi looked at the clock.

"Hmm, I guess that I am."

'_He was on time for Iruka-sensei… I guess Kakashi-sensei really does like him.'_

Naruto stood up and put his hands behind his head.

"Anou, have fun! I'm going to go see Gaara. Bye!"

Iruka went to walk his former student to the door. When the teacher wasn't looking Naruto looked back at Kakashi and mouthed something that clearly said, 'hurt him and die.' Kakashi just waved cheerily back.

* * *

Hinata folded her precious Pokemon blanket and placed it underneath her pillow. Then she pulled it back out and breathed in its scent. Again. It smelled… like pears. With maybe some cinnamon and sandalwood mixed in. A spicy fruit scent that comforted her like nothing else could. 

Neji placed his tiger under the blanket. Then he pulled it back out again and hugged it. It was squishy… and soft. It was comforting.

' _I like stuffed animals… I should get some more. No one must ever know though. Hmm, didn't Kankuro say that he had a puppet? I wonder what it looks like…'_

Hinata's cell phone rang.

"Moshi-moshi."

"Hina-chan! Its me, T.C.!"

"T-T.C.-chan! W-What is it?"

"Temari-san said that she found this great stuffed animal shop! She wants us to drag all of the boys there. You think you can get Neji to come?"

"H-hai!"

"Great! See you! I sent the address to your phone. Bye!"

"B-Bye!"

Hinata hung up. Now to get Neji to come…

* * *

Neji looked up when Hinata entered the room. 

"Is there something you want Hinata-sama?"

"N-Neji-niisan, w-will you go s-shopping with me?"

"Hai Hinata-sama. Where are we going?"

"I-It's a stuffed animal p-place."

"…Stuffed animals?"

"H-hai."

"Okay."

'_Wow, I thought it was going to be harder to convince him to go…'_

'…_This is the perfect excuse to get more stuffed animals. I can say they're for Hanabi or something.'_

_

* * *

_  
Kankuro eyed the toast warily. It was black. In fact, it looked like a piece of charcoal. The eggs looked like petrified rubber, and the bacon looked like burned beef jerky. He and Gaara eyed each other from across the table and came to a silent agreement. Gaara used his sand to cause one of the pots to fall to the ground. When Temari went to pick it up Gaara's sand devoured all of the food on the table. When she turned around she was rather surprised but pleased that her brothers had eaten for once.

"Okay, now that you guys are done eating I want to tell you that-

"GAARA! "

Gaara found himself fall in the floor as he was glomped by a hyperactive Naruto. Temari snapped a few quick pictures while they were recovering and Kankuro suddnely had a bad feeling in his stomach… Temari put her camera away

"As I was saying, we're all going to a stuffed animal shop today. No exceptions."

"Cool! That sounds fun Temari-chan!"

"…Hn."

"I don't wanna…"

"Kankuro, you are going. You need to make some friends and not hang out with that freaky doll all the time. Go or you will face sisterly wrath."

Kankuro winced; sisterly wrath was not a thing to be underrated.

"Fine. Karasu's not freaky!"

"Whatever. C'mon you guys, lets go!"

* * *

"So your friend Hatake Kakashi graduated the ninja academy at five and was an ANBU by the time he was fifteen?" 

Gai nodded.

"He also has naturally silver hair, reads porn in public, is always late for everything, and always wears a mask that covers half his face?"

Gai nodded again.

"His boyfriends name is Umino Iruka. He teaches at the ninja academy and is at the rank of chuunin. Nice guy, always polite, constantly wears his hair in a pony tail?"

"Yes, he strives so hard to educate the youth of the village! Indeed someone worthy of my Eternal Rival!"

"…I must say that this is a classic case of 'opposites attract.' It seems that Hatake-san poured most of his life into being the perfect ninja. I daresay that didn't do much for his social skill or emotional development."

"He is always hip and cool but you seem correct in your observation!"

"Hmm, maybe we should observe them some more before deciding on a course of action. Shall we make it a date Maito-san?"

Gai felt elated. His heart was beathing faster, and his cheeks were slightly warmer than they had been.

"H-hai! We will start by finding my Eternal Rival!"

TBC

* * *

Tina-chan: The site was evil! The update took so long! I'm ashamed!

Naruto: Aw, its okay! We love you anyway. You'll forgive her, right readers?"

Tina-chan: It was so evil… -sob-

Naruto: There there -hug- Um, could you guys review please? That always makes her feel tons better, and I think she's in withdrawal… please save her soul.


	22. Chapter 22

I'm sorry this is so frickin short... I'm going to try to make the next one extra long to make it up to you. Either that or I add onto this chapter later. T.T

yeah, don't own naruto. -yawn-

* * *

Kankuro was hiding in a corner of the shop, hoping to Kami that no one saw him in a stuffed animal shop, especially one called, 'Fluffy Cuddles.' The horror. He peeked out behind a display of fluffy kitties to spy on his siblings. Temari was checking out a display of stuffed weasels with Shikamaru. Gaara was being dragged by Naruto to a display of stuffed pandas with a horrified look on his face. Kankuro stored that look later for teasing material. The shop bell rung and he ducked further behind the display, hiding himself from view. To his horror, he heard footsteps move his way. 

'_Crap'_

Someone stopped in front of the display and Kankuro could hear him talking to himself.

"These are too fluffy… I want something like the tiger he gave me, it's soft but not fluffy…"

Kankuro's eyes widened.

'_Don't tell me its…'_

Suddenly Neji poked his head behind the display and looked straight at him.

'_Oh Kami, its Hyuuga. Wait…. Did he just say the word 'fluffy?'_

"_Oh kuso. What the hell is he doing here! Did he hear me? Kami, help me through this…'_

Neji was about to run away when Kankuro spoke, stopping him in his tracks.

"…Did you just say ' fluffy?'"

'_Damn.'_

'_Ha, he heard you.'_

'_It's you again!'_

'_Love you too.'_

Neji glared (as usual).

"Why would you care if I did?"

"Um, 'cause I'd be the weirdest thing I've ever heard?"

"What's wrong with the word fluffy?"

"Nothing, but hearing a word like that come from you is somewhat disturbing. You seem to like stuffed animals huh?"

'_Nooo, he knows!'_

'_So? He doesn't look like an evil type of person. I don't think he'll tell anyone.'_

'_Yes he will! Who would keep to themselves the information that Hyuuga Neji likes stuffed animals? I'm never going to live this down!'_

"So what if I do like stuffed animals?"

Neji started at him hard, waiting for an answer.

"Well… I guess that's fine for you then. Everyone has something they like; me, I like puppets. This is Karasu."

Kankurou unwrapped his beloved puppet. Neji looked at it as if it was something evil.

"It's ugly!"

"What! It's a magnificent work of art, a battle puppet!"

"That doesn't mean it's not ugly."

"You have no appreciation for art!"

Neji merely shrugged; Kankuro was right, art had never really interested him before.

"I guess not. So what are you doing here besides hiding behind fluffy kitties?"

Kankuro twitched.

"Don't say fluffy… please. It's somehow disturbing. 'Kitties' is pushing it too."

"And what exactly makes this so disturbing?"

"I dunno. Its just… you. Saying fluffy. Weird."

"As weird as your face paint?"

"DON'T DISS MY PAINT!"

'_My my, he's amusing when he gets annoyed.'_

'_Amusing? Ha, I think it looks cute, even with the paint.'_

'_Well, I don't think that.'_

'_If I think it that means you think it too.'_

'…_When will you stop torturing me?'_

'_When you stop being in denial.'_

'_I'm not in denial!'_

'_Liar.'_

"Hey Hyuuga! What's wrong with you? Do you usually space out like this?"

Neji blinked and found a hand waving in front of his face. Was he imagining it, or did Kankuro look… slightly concerned?

'_Jeez what's wrong with the Hyuuga, he keeps spacing out. Is he sick or something?'_

"Hey, are you feeling okay?"

Neji was taken aback by his sudden concern.

"Hai, I'm fine."

Kankuro looked at him again and decided that yes, he seemed okay now. Then he nodded and pointed to another corner of the store.

"If you want something like your tiger, I suggest looking over there. They seem to be made by the same person."

"…Arigato. Anou, are you going to tell anyone about…?"

"Why should I? Not like it's their business. See ya."

Kankuro walked off to ask Temari if they could leave yet when he saw Naruto walking to the cash register with a giant panda plushie, and Gaara…. Blushing?

* * *

-flashback- 

"Gaaaara, lets look at the pandas!"

'…_why do I have a sense of impending doom?'_

"…Why the pandas?"

"Just c'mere!"

Gaara found himself being dragged by his boyfriend to a huge display of pandas of every size and shape. He squinted slightly; some of those panda's looked familiar… he took a tag and flipped it over. It read, JadePanda©.

'…_The evilness returns!'_

Gaara made a mental note to himself to find out who was the head of this company….

"Kawaii! Gaara, I want this one!"

Naruto held up a huge panda. It was red and white, but the rings around its eyes were black. The eyes were green and it had an 'ai' symbol on its forehead…

'_No way this is a coincidence…'_

"…Why that one?"

"'Cause it looks like you!"

Naruto gave him one of his real smiles.

"I'm gonna name it Gaa-kun! C'mon, lets buy it!"

Gaara once again found himself being dragged, this time to the cash register.

'…_Okay, maybe I won't kill the owner of the company….'_

-end flashback-

* * *

Oh man, this is crap… I'm sorry. T.T I'll definitely have a longer chapter next time. Writers block and lack of sleep... ick. >. 


	23. Chapter 23

I have.. over 400 reviews... -shock-

Naruto: -waves hand in front of authoresses face-

Tina-chan: -glazed look-

Gaara: -sweatdrop-

* * *

Hinata noticed that T.C. was looking toward the panda section with a happy grin on her face. She looked and saw Naruto carting a large, red stuffed panda and dragging Gaara behind him (as usual). She looked back at T.C. 

"N-Naruto-kun seems to l-like the panda."

T.C. beamed at her.

"I knew he'd find it."

Hinata gave her a look that said, 'huh?', but T.C. just shook her head slightly and grabbed her hand. Hinata blushed a deep red.

"What kind of stuffed animals do you like Hina-chan?"

"A-anou… I-I…"

Poor Hinata was so distracted by the warmth of the hand over her own that she forgot how to form coherent sentences. She closed her eyes and started to shake slightly. T.C. looked at her shaking friend, extremely worried about her condition.

'_Omg, she looks like she's having a panic attack! Okay, what did auntie say to do in these situations…? Oh!'_

Hinata found something large and furry shoved toward her, and she automatically reached out to grab it and hug it against her chest for comfort. It was soft and squishy and… comforting. She opened her eyes and found herself face to face with a Mew (Pokemon©) plushie. It was light pink with blue eyes and was a big version of it. She buried her face in it and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

'_In… out… in… out… I'm okay now.'_

At the realization that she had almost had a panic attack inside a store she blushed an even deeper red and slowly opened her eyes to find T.C.'s worried face right in front of her.

"Hina-chan! Are you okay now? You were having some sort of attack… and I was freaking out… then I remembered that stuffed animals help calm people down so I found this one… Are you okay now?"

Hinata nodded, her face down in shame. She had worried her friend so much… it was all her fault. She stiffened slightly when she felt warm arms wrap around her gently, then a bit harder. A voice next to her ear almost made her shiver.

"I'm glad you're okay now."

The welcome warmth receded and left Hinata feeling a bit shell shocked. Before she could completely recover her Mew plushie was yanked out of her arms.

"I'll get this for you; you like it, right? If you ever feel nervous or stressed its always good to hug a stuffed animal…"

T.C.'s voice droned off as she walked to the cash register. Hinata slowly followed, her arms clasped across her chest, as if trying to get back the warmth that had been there previously…

* * *

Iruka and Kakashi were walking down the street when Iruka caught sight of his former students in a shop and of course had to go over to say hello. After threatening Kakashi with bodily harm if he took out his Icha Icha, Iruka walked into the store and was greeted with an interesting sight. Naruto was hugging a giant red panda while Gaara glared at it, Neji was rooting around in the Jadepanda© plushie section, Kankuro was once again hiding behind a display, Temari was forcing Shikamaru to wear ferret ears, and Hinata was waiting while T.C. bought the Mew doll. Alerted by some special 'Iruka-sensei in glomping distance' radar, Naruto whirled around and glomped said sensei, while 'Gaa-chan' was suspended with sand in midair next to Gaara. Kakashi could see said sand nin trying to glare the poor panda to death. 

'_Damn panda… why is Naruto hugging you all the time?'_

Gaara needed a hug. Kakashi noticed. He turned to Naruto, who was talking a million words a minute to a winded looking Iruka.

"Maa, Naruto-kun, is there something wrong with Gaara?"

Naruto looked to his boyfriend and immediately noticed that something was amiss. What else was there to do but glomp him right in the middle of the store and nuzzle his face against his neck while asking him what was wrong? (classic uke maneuver). Needless to say, Gaara was now a very happy panda. Um, person. Suddenly, both boys noticed a change in the atmosphere… They slowly looked up to see teary eyed fangirls clutching their hearts (and cameras).

"GAARA-KUN!"

"NARUTO-KUN!"

"LET US HUG YOU!"

"KYAAAAA!"

The rabid fangirls leaped… to find that the boys had already disappeared, leaving bushin in their place.

"NOOO!"

The distraught fangirls left in search of their favorite couple. Once they had all disappeared from the area a blonde head peeked out from behind Iruka and a red head peeked out from behind Kakashi.

"Fangirls… are scary."

"Gaara! That was scaaaary! Waah!"

Gaara found himself with an armful of blonde. He inwardly smirked.

'_Scary, but they have their uses.'_

Kakashi was idly wondering whether the older kunoichi were into yaoi… and if they were as scary as the teenage variety of fangirls.

"Hey Iruka."

"Hai, Kakashi?"

"If you could pick two female jounin who were most likely to be fangirls, who would you pick?"

"Anko."

Kakashi inwardly shuddered. Yes, Anko probably was into yaoi… he hoped she didn't start stalking them. If she knew they were going out…

"Anyone else?"

"…Kurenai?"

"Hmm… you never know."

"Kakashi! My eternal rival, what brings you to this gloriously youthful establishment on this fantastic day!"

Kakashi looked around, momentarily horrified as a green and orange blur entered the shop (not that he actually looked horrified; it was more of a bored, 'who are you again?' one-eyed, half-lidded stare that lasted for about two seconds before he leaned against the wall, hands in his pocket.).

"…Gai. What are you doing here?"

By this time everyone had bought what they wanted and was staring at Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast. Neji had a bag with an unidentified object, Temari had a ferret doll, Shikamaru had ferret ears, and Kankuro also had a bag. Gai didn't seem the least bit disturbed that everyone was staring at him.

"Why, I was just on a date…"

Everything else that Gai said was lost to Kakashi as he tried to comprehend that one word. Date. Gai, on a date? What person in their right mind would go on a date with Gai? Not to be mean but… It's Gai! The green spandex wearing, freakishly cheerful, self-punishing, enthusiastic Green Beast of Konoha!

"…and we were walking by and just happened to spot a store full of youth, along with you, my eternal rival! So of course I had to come in to say hello!"

"Gai-san? Here you are. I was wondering where you ran off too."

Kakashi turned and saw…someone he wasn't expecting. The women had brown, coffee colored skin, with red dreads that framed a kindly face. She was wearing a long blue peasant skirt that swished with every movement, and a breezy purple blouse. All in all, she was good looking. Not someone you would expect to see with Gai, of all people. There was a general feeling of shock from all that knew Gai. Neji turned slowly.

"Gai sensei, is this your date?"

TBC

* * *

Beautiful reviewer people! -uber glomp- you guys... are so kind! I take forever to update, you remind me! I write short chapters that are posted at 3:30 AM, you tell me they're good! I just want to say... you guys really make me feel good as a writer, and i luv u all! Thankies for the reviews! 

-hugs panda muse Ling Po-chan- I like pandas... Yeah, this is late 'cause i was sick last weekend. T.T sorry. Once again, luv to all my reviewers (and readers), as long as you keep wanting more, I'll keep writing! Hooray for plushies and fangirsl!

Neji: Oh dear, I think she's hyper again.

Kankuro: Naw, I think she's just basking in the love of her reviewers.

Tina-chan: speaking of which... you two have had a snog request!

Kankuro: ... O.O

Neji: ...

_Inner Neji: Yeeesssss! Yay for reviewers!_

_Neji: shut up! _

_inner Neji: You know you want to! wipe that paint off his face! -whoot!-_

_Neji: T.T you scare me. _

Tina-chan: I dunno Neji, your inner self sounds pretty sure of himself...

Kankuro: Don't I get any say in this!

Tina-chan: You don't actually. I have ideas in my head for you two... -evil laugh-

Neji: -inches away from crazed authoress-

_Inner Neji: Yay for pervy fangirls! _

Kankuro: ...T.T

Hee, please review! I luv reviewers...


	24. Chapter 24

Yikes, I have to get this NejiKankuro out of my system. -flexes hands- I'll get more on other pairings in next chapter, but this one is NejiKan-centric!

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, Never will. T.T

* * *

_Neji turned slowly. _

"_Gai sensei, is this your date?"_

Gai beamed happily.

"Why yes! This wonderful vision of youth is Nadeshiko Keesha!"

Keesha smiled at everyone and bowed politely. They were still pretty shocked except for one person. T.C. smiled at the couple.

"So auntie, when did this happen?"

Keesha blushed slightly. Her and Gai were about to go searching for Kakashi and Iruka when Gai had asked her on a real date on impulse.

_-Flashback-_

"Keesha-san! I was wondering if you would so honor me by letting me take you on a real date!"

Keesha looked surprised for a second, then a slight blush covered her cheeks.

"Hai, I would like that Gai-san."

_-End flashback-_

Neji looked shocked beyond belief that his sensei had asked someone on a date. Gaara was impressed that Gai had gotten someone to agree on a date. Kakashi was slightly in shock (not that you could tell on the outside) and Naruto's mouth was hanging open. Iruka gently closed it. Keesha beamed at Kakashi.

"Ah, you must be Hatake-san! Gai-san has told me so much about you. And who is this?"

She looked toward Iruka and he hurried to introduce himself.

"I'm Umino Iruka. It's very nice to meet you Nadeshiko-san."

"Please call me Keesha. Gai-san and I were just on our way to get tea. Would you two like to join us?"

"Hai, that would be very nice. Thank you for inviting us."

Kakashi merely nodded. The adults bid goodbye to the younger shinobi, then walked out of the shop. Kankuro looked at Temari.

"Can we leave now?"

Temari nodded and everyone went their separate ways. Neji was escorting T.C and Hinata out of the shop when he saw Kankuro waiting outside with his arms crossed and staring into space. The two girls saw this and immediately told Neji that they had somewhere to go and no, he didn't have to escort them. Almost before the pale eyed boy could blink the girls were gone, leaving him alone with the puppet master. Neji decided to initiate a conversation.

"Are you going to stand there all day like an idiot, or do you have a reason to be there?"

Kankuro turned toward him, slightly exasperated.

"No, I was just waiting to hear your barbed sarcasm to brighten my day. Is it possible for you too start a conversation without an insult Hyuuga?"

"Maybe. So what are you waiting for?"

Kankuro seemed to debate with himself for a little while then threw his shopping bag to Neji, who caught it easily. Inside was… a black panther plushie. A lot like the tora plushie he'd given him at the festival.

"I wasn't sure if you would find something you liked, and I saw this and… I dunno, cats just seem to suit you."

'_Why I would buy something for you I still don't know. Maybe I was bored?'_

Neji stared at the plushie, a little surprised.

'_Wow, this is exactly the type I wanted.'_

"…Arigato."

"Gasp. The ice-prince said something nice. Lets all run and hide."

Kankuro had a smirk on his face.

"I think the correct response is, 'you're welcome.' _Bastard.'_

_You were asking for it. _

_YOU! Go away!_

_Sorry, you're stuck with me. Aw, he gave us a plushie! _

_Yeah…that was nice of him, I guess. _

While Neji was having his inner dialogue, Kankuro was about to walk away. Suddenly… a bucket of water dropped out of the sky and landed on his head.

"SHIT!"

Kankuro's slightly muffled yell brought Neji back into reality. He looked to see the Suna nin throwing a bucket and his black cat hat to the side and scrubbing at his face, muttering about f-ing buckets falling from the sky and soaking him. Neji walked over to him, wondering WTF he was talking about. Sensing his approach, Kankuro looked up; Neji stared.

_'OMFG.'_

The water had washed off Kankuro's face paint. Underneath the purple and white monstrosity, Kankuro was… pretty hot. He looked kind of like Gaara (minus panda eyes, kanji, red hair, and death glare). His brown bangs, no longer held back by his hat, fell into his eyes. His face was slightly pink from his earlier scrubbing, and he was trying to get excess moisture out of his brown hair.

'_If he looks like that… WHY DOES HE WEAR FACE PAINT?'_

'_Hmm, probably to ward off fangirls. I told you he was cute.'_

'…_Fine, so you were right.'_

'_Kami, he looks so hot right now… watcha gonna do?'_

Kankuro looked up, his bangs flopping wetly into his face when he felt eyes on him. He saw Neji looking at him with a strange expression on his face… He cocked his head to the side slightly.

'_What's wrong with him?'_

Neji's chest felt oddly tight. His breathing was getting a little quicker, and he felt himself drawing nearer to the boy in front of him, getting closer, closer…

'_Fuck these hormones!'_

Lips met lips. One pair of eyes closed while another's widened with shock. The pressure became harder, one boy knowing what he wanted while the other was unable to respond. One boy thrust a bag into the other's hands and finally withdrew. Neji licked his lips slowly, then started to walk away. He turned around with a small smile.

"It's yours."

Then he left.

* * *

Dazedly, Kankuro opened the bag and looked in. It was a crow plushie. 

'_Oh god… fuck, what the hell?'_

He had to think hard to keep himself from hyperventilating.

'_He just… Neji just… kissed me. Wait, when did I start calling him Neji? Why… shit, this is confusing! Why did he… why… did I let him?'_

Then he ran. He ran all the way to the Yadoya, went to his room, shut the door, and collapsed on his bed. He still carried the crow plushie.

"Shit!"

He buried his face in the pillow and forced himself to think.

'_Okay, so I gave him the plushie I bought for him… then he spaced out… then a bucket of water fell from the sky… and I was trying to get it out of my face and when I looked up… he kissed me.'_

A sudden thought struck Kankuro and he looked in his mirror. Paint? Gone. Hat? Also gone.

'_Kami… don't tell me he thinks that I'm attractive!'_

He looked at the crow plushie.

'_What did he say? He said, 'It's yours.' Was he talking about this… or something else?'_

Frustrated, Kankuro decided to try to talk to Neji later.

'_I want to ask him… why?'_

Unconsciously, he touched his lips where Neji's had been minutes earlier. Sure it wasn't like it was his first kiss ever, but it was his first kiss from a boy. The thing was… it was kinda nice. Not like he responded, but he didn't push him away either… Or prevent him from doing it in the first place.

'_It's not like he was hiding his intention. kami-sama. If worse comes to worse, I might have to go to Temari for advice…'_

Perish the thought. _  
_

_

* * *

_  
Meanwhile a certain Hyuuga was walking around trying to find his cousin and her friend.

'_Why didn't I do that earlier?'_

'_Cause you didn't know that he looked good under all that paint. Also, he's a pretty decent guy. Helped us out, you know? First from the fangirls then from our feelings.'_

'…_Fuck, I think I do like him.'_

'_Told ya so. So what are you going to do about it?'_

'_Wait for him to approach me and figure it out from there.'_

'_Hey, maybe you could ask Hinata's friend for advice. She seems to know about this stuff.'_

'…_Maybe.'_

TBC

* * *

Yay! Done! Glad I got that out. Once again thanks to reviewers, you got your wish! More KakaIru next chapter, and I want some T.C.Hina also. Who can guess the person behind the whole bucket thing? See you next chapter! 

Kakashi: what about me and 'Ruka?

Tina-chan: yes yes, don't worry I haven't forgotten you! Next chappie, kay?

Kakashi: Maa, you sure beat around the bush don't you? So slow…

Tina-chan: -anger mark- Kakashi…

Kakashi: Too wimpy to write a lemon, whether yaoi or yuri… can't find time to update other story…

Naruto: um, Kakashi-sensei? I would shut up if I were you.

-Both look at seething authoress-

Kakashi: What? I was just telling the truth…

Tina-chan: -clenches fist- THAT'S IT!

Naruto: Kakashi-sensei, I think u made her mad…

Tina-chan: -eerie smile- Remember the author notes for chapters 5 and 13?

Kakashi: -backs away slowly- Um, no?

Tina-chan: Well too bad… Cause I think I'm going to make good on my threat!

Itachi: -smirk-

Kakashi: …You wouldn't.

Tina-chan: Or would I?

Please review. It helps feed the soul. (and saves the souls of others.)


	25. Chapter 25

Omg, I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've updated! T.T I had finals this week... and they were evil. T.T To make it up to all of you wonderful readers and reviewers... I made this the longest chapter that I've had so far! Also... believe or not, this story has... A LEMON! (hides) This is the first time that I have ever even attemped to write one so... please be kind. (bows) Also... this chapter is dedicated to Hathors-Favoite and CRACKQUEEN because thanks to them this story now has FANART! (gasp!). Check it out, I have the links posted on my profile! Now, onto the chapter!

Discaimer: Don't own. All I have is a Shikamaru plushie, two Gaara keychains and some fanart. T.T

Warnings: This chapter has LEMON! I have a big, bolded warning for those who would prefer to skip it. If you somehow corrupt your virgin eyes, don't say that I didn't warn you.

* * *

The two adult couples walked down the busy street, chatting pleasantly. Kakashi was interrogating Gai while Iruka and Keesha gossiped. Kakashi couldn't help himself; he usually didn't pry into his self proclaimed rival's business, but this was just too unusual to pass up. 

"So Gai… where exactly did you meet her?"

Gai couldn't very well say that he had been spying on Kakashi when he met Keesha, so he left that part out.

"I was leaving that glorious festival of Youth, and met her while on my way back to my residence! We started taking, and I freely admit that I was captivated by her sense of YOUTH!"

By the time he was finished Gai had a more vibrant than usual sunset background, was in a noble pose, and had emotional tears running down his face. Kakashi inched away from him a bit.

'…_Is it just me, or is Gai acting even weirder than usual..?'_

Ah, the incredible, youthful power of love.

While Kakashi was busy dealing with his rival, Keesha was taking to Iruka.

"So, Iruka-kun, you and Hatake-san are dating, right?"

Iruka blushed slightly and nodded.

"Hai…"

He might have been blushing, but he had a small smile on his face when he confirmed her question. Keesha analyzed this.

'_hmm… the blush shows that he's slightly embarrassed, but the smile showed that he's serious about this relationship. Now to talk about Kakashi-san…'_

"So what do you like about Hatake-san?"

Iruka was a bit startled by the question, but the smile on Keesha's face somehow said, 'you can trust me…'

"Anou… I'm not really sure, it's just that… he gives me a sense of security I guess. Something just draws me to him, even his eccentricity."

"And by that you mean…?"

"…He reads porn and is slightly sadistic in the training of his students."

Keesha snickered a bit.

"I think that most people are perv's on the inside anyway. Ever read any of his books?"

Iruka (as usual) blushed bright red.

"No!"

His outburst caused the two 'rivals' to look over in their direction. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Something wrong, Iruka?"

'_Wish I had been listening to their conversation instead of Gai…'_

"No, I'm fine Kakashi."

Iruka gave a slight glare in Keesha's direction and she snickered inwardly.

'_Awe, he's a fun guy to tease.'_

_

* * *

_  
Temari arrived home to find Kankuro taking a nap with a crow plushie. An eyebrow was raised.

'_Where's his face paint and hat…? And where did the plushie come from?'_

Now, being the most wonderful aneki that she is, Temari immediately wanted to know what had happened to her dear younger brother. A well placed fist to the head and loud, 'KANKURO! WAKE UP!' had our poor puppet master tumbling out of bed mumbling obscenities under his breath. When he caught sight of his lovely aneki he was more than a little annoyed.

"…WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR, TEMARI?"

Temari, feeling energized by the little display of violence she had shown towards her brother, put on a sisterly smile.

"I was just wondering if something was bothering you. Where did you get the plushie?"

The fan wielder did not miss the slight blush that crossed her brother's cheeks, or the way his arms unconsciously tightened around the plushie. This intrigued her greatly.

"Kankuro, what happened?"

"Uhhh…"

Kankuro trailed off, not sure if he actually wanted to tell his slightly psychotic older sister about his… encounter. Unfortunately for Kanky, his aneki had other ideas. A slight tick appeared on Temari's forehead when Kankuro didn't answer. Like all concerned big sisters, Temari took the only course of action she could think of: pull out her beloved fan and threaten her brother with a windy death unless he spilled the beans. Kankuro paled and sweat dropped at the same time. Just his luck to have two psychotic, violent, and sadistic siblings… Who could both scare (and beat) the crap out of him. Temari was waiting patiently (not) for his reply.

"Neji…"

Temari immediately dropped her fan on the floor and grasped Kankuro by the shoulders with stars in her eyes.

"What about Neji?"

Kankuro was scared by his sister's sudden change in attitude.

"Uh, he kissed… me…urgle!"

Kankuro trailed off and gasped for breath as his sister gave him a hug that cut off his air supply rather efficiently.

"Squee! Omg, he did? Was he a good kisser? What did you guys do? Were there tongues involved? What did you say to him!"

She released him from her death grip and looked at him expectantly. He hacked a little before catching his breath.

"He… gasp… just… wheeze… kissed me and walked away."

Temari looked sorely disappointed.

"You let him walk away? Dammit Kankuro, at least tell me you kissed him back!"

"…No."

"WHY?"

"Have you stopped to think that maybe I was a little surprised to be kissed by a guy?"

"Well… did you like it? It doesn't sound like you pushed him away."

Kankuro looked down at the plushie in his hands.

"Maybe…"

"SO NEXT TIME KISS HIM BACK, BAKA!"

"ITAI! YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO HIT ME!"

Kankuro was left clutching his head in pain while Temari stomped out the door, slightly miffed by her brother's wimpy ness, but secretly happy. All she had to do was stalk Kankuro and she could get some quality pictures!

* * *

Inner-Neji was one very happy sub-conscience. Neji could hear him practically humming a tune in the back of his mind. 

'_What are you so happy about?'_

'_I got to kiss Kanky!'_

'_Is that all?'_

'_Um, I'm getting our non existent love life off the ground?'_

'…_Oh shut up.'_

Neji came back onto reality and used his Byakugan to find Hinata and T.C. They were in a shop of sorts… Neji silently walked over and peeked through the display window. T.C. spotted him and cheerily waved him in. Hinata turned around as he entered the shop.

"Neji-niisan!"

Neji noticed with interest that Hinata's cheeks were flushed slightly pink, and she had a very happy expression on her face. He guessed it was because of the books clutched in her arms, and he absently checked them out with his Byakugan.

'_Hm… Revolutionary Girl Utena, R.O.D., FAKE, Until the full moon, Ranma ½… I wonder why those particular titles?'_

After she greeted him Hinata went to the cashier to buy her books. Neji was left with T.C., who was looking at him expectantly.

"…Well, how'd it go, Neji-kun?"

Neji kept his expression blank but raised an eyebrow.

"…How did what go?"

T.C. inwardly sighed; Hinata's cousin could be so annoying at times…

"With Kankuro, duh. So did you kiss him or what?"

…Neji was unable to hide the expression of shock on his face.

"Was that you?"

Now T.C. looked confused.

"Was what me? I wasn't there."

"But a bucket fell out of the sky!"

T.C. grinned suddenly.

"Let me guess, it washed off his paint and his looks blew you through the roof?"

Neji didn't answer, and T.C. took that as an affirmative.

"Sorry to tell you this, but that wasn't me. So… what happened? Did he respond? Freak out? What?"

She had an excited and somewhat… scary expression on her face. Neji shivered slightly.

'_I feel a scary aura…'_

'_Don't worry, that's just her inner yaoi fangirlism coming out.'_

'_Yaoi fangirlism…?'_

'_You'll see.'_

"I didn't stick around for the reaction. And no, he didn't kiss me back."

Neji would never admit it, but he was slightly disappointed by this fact.

"Hm… but he didn't push you away either, right? I think you're okay for now. At least he knows you're interested… but could I recommend some reference material?"

A large, gleeful smirk crossed her face, and Neji felt somewhat scared… hell, that look almost had him running out of the shop in fear.

'_Fangirls are scary…'_

T.C. was currently scanning the bookshelves, and she finally picked out three manga. She did the Scary Smirk again.

"Read."

She opened a book that she had picked out for herself and started reading (actually, she was faking and looking for Neji's reaction)

Neji somewhat nervously opened a book. The title was 'Yellow.' He tentatively flipped through a couple of pages, and his pale eyes widened. An almost unnoticeable blush crossed his face, and he quickly opened the other two books and flipped through them as well. The tiles were, 'Desire,' and 'Until the Full Moon.' T.C. watched him with barely contained glee. Neji looked at her, uttered a heartfelt 'Arigato,' and headed toward the register. Hinata passed him by and looked at the titles in his hands curiously. She blushed slightly when she saw what he had, and headed towards T.C., who was looking very pleased with herself. When she arrived at her location, T.C. punched her fist into the air victoriously.

"Haha! Yet another unsuspecting person falls prey to the wonderfulness of Yaoi!"

Hinata was amused.

"S-so do you hook people for the shop's sake, o-or for your own sadistic pleasure?"

T.C. smiled brightly.

"For my own sadistic pleasure of course! Once people get hooked, they can't stop… and they convert more people!"

Hinata couldn't help but grin along with her crush; the size of both yaoi fanclubs had grown rapidly with the circulation of certain pictures… and the Suna girls were going to make their own segment of the club when they went home. Yes, yaoi was a good thing… but yuri was good also, in Hinata's opinion.

'_I wonder if there's any better yuri titles…' _Thought Hyuuga heiress absently as she looked at T.C.'s happy face.

* * *

After having tea with Keesha and Gai, Iruka and Kakashi bid their goodbye's and started walking towards the forest. Iruka was thinking about an interesting conversation that he had with Keesha when Kakashi and Gai had gone to order some mochi. 

"_Just out of curiosity… how far have you guys gone?"_

_Iruka almost dropped his teacup._

"_N-nani? We're not… we haven't…"_

_The poor teacher was too flustered to continue. Keesha noticed and took pity on him (somewhat). _

"_So you guys haven't… but you want to, right?"_

_Iruka blushed and stared into his teacup, as if hoping to find enlightenment in the dark fragrant liquid. When he looked up Keesha gave him a smile that fleetingly reminded him of his mother…_

"_Oh well, you'll do it when you're ready. I don't really know him, but Hatake-san seems like a good man at heart. I hope you two are happy together."_

_Before Iruka could respond to that touching statement, Kakashi and Gai arrived with a plateful of mochi. He settled for giving her a grateful smile. _

'_Gai-sensei found a nice girl, that's for sure.'_

_

* * *

_

Kakashi was oddly silent the whole time it took them to reach the forest. It was a comfortable silence though, not awkward at all. They walked side by side contentedly, soaking in the beauty of the forest surroundings. When they got to a lake they stopped and stared at the silvery surface. Iruka smiled; he had always loved being around water. While he looked at the small waves lapping at the shore, Kakashi looked at Iruka. He had a small, gentle smile on his face, and a few strands of hair had escaped his bandana and hung loose around his face. The sunlight made his tan skin glisten, and he looked content, perfectly peaceful.

'_I could stare at him forever.'_

**LEMON ALERT! LEMON ALERT! LEMON ALERT! LEMON ALERT! LEMON ALERT!**

Iruka sensed Kakashi come behind him and wrap his arms around the shorter man's shoulders, his head resting next to his ear. Iruka relaxed into the embrace, letting Kakashi's comforting presence spread around him like a blanket. Kakashi stood there, breathing in Iruka's scent. It was comforting, making Kakashi feel… different.

"Iruka…"

The chuunin shivered with the sensation of Kakashi whispering into his ear. When Kakashi stared sucking on it, Iruka could feel little tremors of pleasure run throughout his body. Kakashi slowly moved from his ear to his neck and started sucking softly, caressing the skin with is tongue. Iruka just stood there soaking in the feelings of pleasure that Kakashi's ministrations was giving him. The silver haired man bit down suddenly on the skin, eliciting a small moan from his partner. This encouraged the other man, and he made sure to make a mark that would be hard to explain to people later. Somehow he went from neck to lips and tongue's met in a flurry, both men eager to taste the other, to explore and see what sounds they could encourage each other to make. They broke apart from lack of air, and Kakashi suddenly had his hands up Iruka's shirt, feeling the smooth brown skin underneath. He leaned in for another kiss and Iruka readily responded. Somehow both of their shirts were discarded, and Kakashi eagerly explored Iruka's chest and torso with his tongue, enjoying the taste of the skin and the soft moans that his partner gave as he licked a path down to the edge of the mans pants.

"…Kaka…shi…"

Iruka was in ecstasy; he'd never felt this way before, nor had he ever dreamed that he would. The hot moisture of Kakashi's tongue as it drew a path down his skin was driving him crazy, and Kakashi hadn't even gone below the belt. Kakashi stopped what he was doing to look at his lover, whose eyes were halfway glazed over in pleasure, while Kakashi's eye was glazed over in lust, wanting nothing else but to be with the man before him, to form a bond that would tie him to this man, to make him his lover in all definitions of the word.

"Iruka… can I…?"

Iruka knew what Kakashi was asking; it was what he had been waiting for… his whole life.

"Yes Kakashi… please."

The pleading quality in the chuunin's voice snapped whatever had been holding the copy nin back, and Iruka groaned as Kakashi rubbed their rapidly growing erections together. Their lips fused again at the mouth and hands ran over tan and white skin in a frenzy, both men being filled with heat and desire until they couldn't take it anymore. Pants and boxers were discard as soon as the kiss ended, and Iruka cried out in ecstasy as Kakashi's hand began pumping up and down his shaft, sending tingles throughout his body and sensation that he didn't know he was capable of feeling. His moans became louder as his lover pumped more vigorously, only decreasing in volume when another kiss was initiated drowning out everything in their environment. Iruka was at his peak; he ejaculated, squirting cum on his belly and Kakashi's hand. In front of him Kakashi liked it all off carefully, not missing a drop. Iruka suddenly felt exhausted.

"Kakashi… aishiteru."

Kakashi smiled at him gently, his face no longer obscured by a mask or bandana, clearly showing his well defined features and glowing red sharingan. He placed a gentle kiss on his lovers forehead.

"Aishiteru… Iruka-koi. Now go to sleep."

Iruka grinned sleepily at him and fell asleep. Kakashi smiled at the sight below him and transported them to his bed in his apartment, wrapping his arms around his koi before falling into a peaceful sleep himself.

**END LEMON END LEMON END LEMON END LEMON END LEMON END LEMON**

TBC

* * *

...I can't believe I wrote that. Um, was it okay..? Anyway, don't forget to check the fanart in my profile! If you feel the urge to draw a fanart for this story, please do! I need a GaaNaru fanart... so far I have TemaShika and TCHina. We should have the main pairing too, right? The ones I have now are pretty though! Oh, If you want to see the T.C.Hina ones in color, tell me and I'll send it to you. Love to all me readers and reviewers, See you next chapter! 

Vocab:

aishiteru: I love you

mochi: rice paste dumpling things. They're awesome.

koi: lover

Please review. I want to do a GaaNaru lemon but I want feedback on my KakaIru one first. So if you want more lemon... Review! (grin)


	26. Chapter 26

Lalala... hmm, I feel happy today. Just so you know, I recently posted a fanfic co-written by myself and Kanemoshi. It's called 'Jealousy is so Troublesome, and has Shikachou, a good portion of GaaNaru, and eventual NejiKan. Pretty lemony, and funny. Check it out! Now... onto the next chapter!

Disclaimer: ...Do we really have to go through this again?

Warnings: Slight Sasuke torturing. Like I've said before, I don't like him that much... and after reading the valley of the end chapter, I'm not feeling to kindly toward him so... Yeah, if you like him then.. sorry. (I do like the occasional SasuNaru though, don't get me wrong)

* * *

-Earlier in the day- 

When walking out of 'Fluffy Cuddles,' Gaara noticed that Kankuro had stayed behind as if waiting for somebody. He also still had his bag…

'…_Hmm... I wonder what he's going to do…'_

Gaara pulled Naruto to the side and the two had a sort whispered conversation. Gaara transported both of them onto the roof of the building via Gaara's sand and waited. First Neji came out with T.C. and Hinata. The girls quickly left, leaving Neji and Kankuro alone. Gaara smirked when he overheard the conversation between the two; the sarcastic, insulting dialogue amused him to no end. He quirked an (non-existent) eyebrow when Kankuro gave Neji the plushie.

"…Arigato."

"Gasp. The ice-price said something nice. Lets all run and hide."

"I think the correct response is 'you're welcome.'"

Then the Hyuuga seemed to go into lala land, and his brother started to walk away. Gaara frowned slightly.

'_I get the feeling that he shouldn't leave yet…'_

Naruto was watching the scene with rapt attention, and Gaara noticed a bucket filled with water on the other side of the blonde. The sand nin smirked sadistically.

'_This should be fun to watch…'_

In a flash a tendril of sand snatched the bucket up and sent it flying through the air… right onto Kankuro's head.

"SHIT!"

Naruto looked at Gaara with an expression that clearly said, WTF?

"Anou sa, what did you do that for Gaara?"

"…Watch."

Naruto turned back to the scene just in time to see Neji plant one on the puppet master. His jaw almost hit the ground, and Gaara was amused.

'_So the Hyuuga does like Kankuro…'_

'_Neji just kissed Gaara's brother!'_

Neji thrust the bag into Kankuro's hands and left. Kankuro opened it to reveal a crow plushie… and ran away. Both of the boys on the roof stared until he was out of sight. Naruto looked over at his boyfriend and sweat dropped when he saw a very sadistic smirk on Gaara's face.

'_That was such blackmail material…'_

"So I guess Neji really does like your brother, ne?"

"…If that kiss was anything to go by, yes."

"Hmm, he seemed kinda freaked out about it though. I guess that's understandable, when I accidentally kissed Sasuke-teme it really freaked me out!"

A dark, ominous aura suddenly surrounded the rooftop.

"…**What**?"

Gaara's voice sounded **very very** scary, and his face was in shadow.

'_Gaara… didn't know about that. Fuck…'_

"It wasn't a real kiss! Back in the academy I was arguing with him and someone ran into me and pushed me into the bastards face! It was a total accident, I swear!"

Gaara's hands were clenched into fists, and he was shaking slightly in fury. As if he wasn't mad enough at the Uchiha for his earlier escapade… This warranted blood.

'_Uchiha Sasuke… You. Will. DIE.'_

"Gaara!"

Naruto's arms snaked around his neck from behind, and the blonde whispered in his ear.

"You know… I consider you my first kiss, not that teme. I don't like Sasuke like that, just you. Got it?"

Gaara could feel himself calming down slightly; who wouldn't, with a sexy blonde whispering into their ear? Naruto could feel the anger gradually leaving Gaara's body and breathed a sigh of relief.

'_Stupid Sasuke teme… making Gaara angry even when you're not around. Poor Gaara… that must have been hard for him to hear.'_

Naruto gently leaned up and placed a kiss on Gaara's 'ai' symbol.

"C'mon Gaara, lets get off the roof."

"…Just a sec."

Naruto couldn't say that the kiss wasn't unexpected, but it was still nice. Really nice. He closed his eyes and let out an 'mmmm..' as Gaara's tongue slipped into his mouth. He met it with his own and the two explored, covering every inch of each others mouth. Naruto mentally cursed the need for oxygen as the two broke apart, and he wiped a bit of saliva off his face and grinned brightly.

"That's why you'll always be considered my first."

Gaara smirked perversely.

'_I also want to be your first for something else…'_

_

* * *

_  
The two left the rooftop and wandered around to see if they could find their friends. After a while they found Neji, T.C., and Hinata in a shop. Naruto started to talk to Hinata while Gaara went over to Neji.

"… Nice Hyuuga. You caught my brother totally off guard."

Neji twitched slightly.

"…That was you, wasn't it."

"And people say that you're the genius of the Hyuuga clan."

'_Shit, I can't believe his brother saw us…'_

'_Yeah, but he helped you see his niisan's pretty face too.'_

"Was there any particular reason for you to do that?"

"…It was on a whim. What are you reading?"

"…"

'_Show him. As a thank you.'_

'…_Fine.'_

Neji showed him. Gaara's eyes widened slightly, and a small, perverted smirk crossed his features.

"Researching? How considerate. My brother seems to have hooked a nice guy… If perverted."

Neji threw a book at him. It missed of course, and flew across the room to hit Naruto in the head.

"Itai!"

Naruto angrily grabbed the book, and looked at the cover.

'…_Eh?'_

Then he began to flip through it. His eyes widened comically and he blushed a color that rivaled Gaara's hair. Gaara smirked at his reaction and turned to look at other books in the store. T.C. soon came over to assist him, the Scary Smirk on her face. On the other side of the store Naruto was looking at titles with the help of Hinata, who inwardly had a Scary Smirk on to rival T.C.'s.

When it was time to leave the shop T.C. had to stay until her aunt came to take over her shift at the store. Hinata asked Naruto if he would talk with her alone, and they left together. Neji went home to hide his new books, and Gaara started to walk home to the Yadoya. He was almost home when he spied someone that he really didn't want to see at the moment. Squeals of varying octaves were heard in the distance, and Gaara got an evil idea. He smirked sadistically.

* * *

A certain Uchiha was trying to hide. From what, you may ask? Why, rabid fangirls (and fanboys) of course! He was resting at the moment, just having escaped the squealing, glomping, groping mass of his fanclub. He heard shrill squeals close by and groaned inwardly. 

'_Damn, I thought I lost them…'_

He was about to run away again when he was suddenly pushed from behind… right into the waiting arms of his fanclub.

'_SHIT!'_

As he once again tried to escape from his (evil) fanclub, he remembered what had been whispered to him before he was pushed…

'_You wouldn't want to disappoint your fans now, would you Uchiha? Have fun.'_

Gaara watched, pleased, as Sasuke tried desperately to escape the rabid fangirls/boys. A sadistic grin crossed his face; oh yeah, life was good.

* * *

"So Hinata-chan, what did you want to talk about?" 

"How are things going w-with you and Gaara-k-kun?"

Naruto smiled dreamily.

"Good! Gaara's…awesome. Slightly sadistic maybe, but that's what makes him interesting."

"I-I see… so how have p-people reacted to y-you guys?"

"He, did you know that we have a fanclub now? They're kinda scary but… its nice to know people like us, y'know? Since everyone used to hate us before…"

His voice trailed off and Hinata patted his hand consolingly. Suddenly he grinned at her.

"So Hinata-chan, do you have anyone that you like?"

Hinata blushed a bit, but smiled back shyly.

"H-hai…"

'_I actually had a crush on you for years, but you were too oblivious to notice. That's okay though, because now I know that I'm bi.'_

"Really? Who is it? Dog boy?"

Hinata was slightly taken aback. Kiba? wrooooong.

"Iie! Kiba-k-kun's just my teamate. J-just a friend."

"Um, who then?"

"I… like T.C.-chan."

Naruto noticed with interest how Hinata's face lit up slightly at the very mention of her friend's name.

"Really? Wow, that's great Hinata-chan! So… what do you like about her?"

Naruto really was interested; he had no clue that Hinata swung that way. Hinata got a kind of starry look in her eyes (well, as far as he could tell; it was kind of hard when a person doesn't have pupils…).

"T.C…. I guess I admire her spirit, how she's nice and also we have a lot of common interests (also known as they're both rabid yaoi fangirls) and she makes me feel… like a person. Not an heiress who's weak and a failure to the clan. When I'm with her I can be Hinata, and I don't have to hide anything. That's what I really like about her."

Naruto was stunned.

"H-Hinata chan…"

"Hai?"

"…You said a speech without stuttering once."

"..I-I did?"

"Yep."

Hinata blushed fiercely while Naruto shook his head in wonder.

'_So when she's being herself Hinata-chan doesn't stutter as much? Hmm, wonder what else she's hiding…'_

Another interesting thought found its way into Naruto's mind.

_'I wonder what the Hyuuga clan leader will say when he finds out that he only has one child left to carry on the clan... (ie, Hanabi)'_

Naruto bid Hinata goodbye and started to walk back to the Yadoya. He paused only to watch someone with a half torn off blue shirt run away from a crowd of rabid boys and girls.

'_Was that... Sasuke?'_

Naruto shrugged and walked inside the Yadoya, ready to fall asleep. He walked upstairs, peeked into the bathroom to see Gaara shirtless and drying his hair, drooled a bit, changed into his pajamas, and climbed into bed. Gaara came in a little after Naruto had fallen asleep. He smiled slightly at the blonde and climbed into bed, wrapping his arms around the other boy.

'_Today was fun… Torturing the Uchiha is rather enjoyable.'_

_

* * *

_-The Next Day-

Iruka woke up in a bed that was not his, and he was naked. His brain freaked out for a second until the warm arms surrounding him brought memories of the night before rushing back. The chuunin blushed slightly at the remembrance.

'…_Damn, who knew that anything could feel that good?'_

"Irukaaaaa."

The teacher smiled at his silver haired lover.

"Yes, Kakashi?"

"You fell asleep on me."

Iruka blushed fiercely.

'_Ooops… poor Kakashi.'_

"…Sorry"

The copy nin suddenly grinned perversely at him.

"You can make it up to me tonight though, ne?"

Iruka grinned at him seductively.

"Of course… but for now we have to hurry and meet Gai and Keesha for breakfast. Knowing Gai, if we don't show up he'll come to see what's wrong… and you wouldn't want him to bust in on us now, would you?"

Kakashi was sorely disappointed, but Iruka had a point; Gai was a very loud person…

"Maa, fine I'll get up… after you."

Kakashi peeked a look at Iruka as the man walked to the bathroom to take a shower.

'_Damn he has a nice ass.'_

_(A/N Hmm… I should be in bed now… but I think I'll write some more, just 'cause I love you all.)_

Thanks to Kakashi taking an unnecessarily long shower, the pair was about half an hour late. When they finally showed up, Gai immediately began talking to his rival about the springtime of youth and how it should not be kept waiting. Kakashi managed to tune him out, a skill learned after years of being around the man and hearing the same exclamations. Iruka and Keesha watched for a while, amused. Suddenly Keesha caught sight of something interesting…

"Iruka-kun."

"Hai, Keesha-chan?"

Keesha had a toned down version of the Scary Smirk on her face.

"Is that a hickey I see on your neck?"

Iruka immediately flushed red and cursed himself for forgetting to wear a turtleneck shirt.

"…"

"Congratulations. If you ever need any advice, supplies… I have shop that could help. Here's my card."

Iruka was now red enough to rival a fire engine, but he took the card. Keesha seemed to know what she was talking about… while he really had no clue. Keesha's inner fangirl squealed happily.

A couple of tables away Anko was trying not to squeal out loud with barely contained fangirlness, while Kurenai had a slight blush on her cheeks.

"I'm so going to tease Kakashi about this."

Kurenai idly wondered if Anko had been spending too much time with Ibiki.

"…You're evil Anko."

"Thank you!"

Poor poor Kakashi.

TBC

* * *

Lalala.. what should Anko say to our poor Kakashi, hmm? Hehehe... 

I think i'll put in more NejiKan next chapter too. Until then, Ja ne!

Please review, it makes me want to update. -hint hint-


	27. Chapter 27

OMG, I'm so sorry! It's been forever since I updated! I ran into huge writers block... please forgive me! -grovels shamlessly- anyway, thanks to all the nice reviewers as always, I luv you all... This chapter's kinda weird, so I'm sorry. T.T I kinda know where i want to go with this from now on... and it will have much gaanaru and Nejikan, don't worry. This is kinda a transition into that arc.

Kakashi: -raises eyebrow- Are you sure it was writers block, or was it just you being too lazy to type the chapter?

Naruto: Tina-chan wouldn't do that to her readers!

Neji: -raises eyebrow- she can be sadistic when she wants to...

Kankuro: -mutters- No kidding...

Gaara: -glare- ...what's wrong with being sadistic?

Kakashi/Neji/Kankuro: -sweatdrop-

Tina-chan: Only Naruto-kun and Gaara-kun love me! -glomps them both and gives them cookies-

Naruto/Gaara: Cookies!

Kakashi/Neji/Kankuro: -mutter- ...I want a cookie... -sulk-

Disclaimer: ...I can't write action to save my life, do you really think i could own Naruto?

* * *

When Gaara and Naruto wandered downstairs, Temari announced that she was going to have a 'family' brunch and promptly dragged both of her unwilling brothers out the door, telling Naruto that they would be back in about a half an hour or so. This left Naruto wondering what he was going to do until they came back. 

'_I think… I'll try to find Iruka-sensei, T.C.-chan, or Hinata-chan.'_

With that goal in mind Naruto headed out the door of the Yadoya.

* * *

After breakfast with Gai and Keesha, Kakashi and Iruka went their separate ways. Iruka went to pick up some papers from the academy, and Kakashi said that he would catch him later. When the chuunin was out of sight Kakashi took out the little card he had seen Keesha give to Iruka earlier. 

'_Interesting… I think this is worth checking out.'_

With that in mind Kakashi put his hands in his pockets and slowly began to walk toward his destination.

* * *

Gaara was currently sitting at a booth in a restaurant in Konoha, half listening to his sister's chatter and trying to convince himself not to strangle her for taking him away from his boyfriend. He did somewhat appreciate his aneki's attempt at family bonding, but it wasn't like the siblings had much to talk about. The past was too painful. Kankuro was trying to slouch underneath the table; Temari had forced him to take his hat thing off, but he refused to budge with his kabuki-like facepaint. After threats of physical violence she had also forced him into jeans and a t-shirt instead of his customary black outfit. The pervy leers he was getting from some of the females in the establishment was really freaking him out. All of the siblings had gotten somewhat dressed up for the day. Temari was wearing a jean skirt that was dangerously close to being classified as a long belt and a ripped, lilac t-shirt that declared in proud, bold letters, 'Yaoi: Because real men can't cut it' over a fishnet shirt. Gaara was in black cargo pants with a short-sleeved grey shirt that declared, 'I eat people,' complete with a deranged panda in the back. Kankuro's white t-shirt declared, 'I see stupid people reading this t-shirt.' Isn't that just lovely? Yes, it is. And with Gaara death glaring anyone who was stupid enough to get within the vicinity of their table, it was quite a while before anyone worked up the courage to go take their orders.

* * *

Kakashi was almost at Keesha's store when he ran into two people that he did not particularly want to see at the moment: Mitarashi Anko and Yuuhei Kurenai. Actually he didn't mind Kurenai so much, but the glint in Anko's eyes was scary. Very scary. Probably scary enough to have even Morino Ibiki quaking in his boots. Kakashi felt the sudden urge to run far, far away, but, alas, he was cornered. 

"Kakashi-san!"

Anko grabbed onto his arm like a vice, preventing him from escaping.

"I've heard a few rumors floating around…"

In the back of his mind somewhere that nobody would ever see, a little part of Kakashi was freaking out; rumors spread very quickly in Konohagakure, especially among shinobi.

'_I don't like the direction this conversation is going…'_

"And I was wondering… Is it true that you fucked 'Ruka-san?"

Kakashi sincerely hoped that he and Iruka had been wrong about Anko being a fangirl. He thought about how to answer. Technically, he hadn't fucked Iruka; no penetration was made and he was left somewhat unfulfilled. Not that he was going to tell Anko that. Nuh uh. How the hell could the women be so _blunt_? Contrary to popular belief, Kakashi was not one to spread his sexual endeavors around. Reading porn in public? Yes. Telling Anko about his sex life? NO.

"…And where exactly did you hear a rumor like that?"

Anko smiled the Scary Smirk, causing shivers to run down Kakashi's spine.

"I have my sources. So… Did you? Or was it just a particularly passionate make out session? Don't lie Kakashi, I saw the evidence."

"I still don't know what you're talking about."

Anko sighed in exasperation.

"Hickies are hard evidence Kakashi! You can't tell me that you two did nothing; I want details!"

Slight panic on Kakashi's part.

'_Damn, she saw it…'_

"…Anko, please get off me."

"I know you two did it Kakashi! We're not teenagers, you can tell me!"

'…_We may not be teenagers, but that doesn't mean we don't have the mentality of teenagers when it comes to sex. Especially you Anko…'_

"Is it a hobby of yours to get the details of people's sex lives?"

"Ha, so you two did do it! I knew it! What happened, Kakashi? Tell me now!"

There was no way Kakashi was going to tell her, but he was also not going anywhere until Anko got what she wanted. Kakashi prayed to Kami for deliverance; just someone, anyone, please get him out of hands of this crazy, perverted kunoichi. His prayers were answered.

"K-Kakashi-sensei? K-Kurenai-sensei? W-what are you doing here?"

Hyuuga Hinata looked at the three adults quizzically. Kurenai sighed inwardly; she really wanted to know what Kakashi and Iruka had done, but not enough to corrupt the mind of her student.

'_Not that Hinata-chan is as innocent as everyone thinks she is…' _(Kurenai knows that she's VP of the GaaNaru fanclub).

"C'mon Anko, we can try again later."

With that the two kunoichi walked down the street, Anko pouting slightly because her plans were spoiled. Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief and promptly thanked the confused Hyuuga.

"Arigato Gozaimasu, Hinata-chan."

"Um, y-you're welcome?"

* * *

The two kunoichi continued down the street, Anko still pouting and Kurenai trying to sooth her. That was when they caught sight of Iruka walking down the street, his school papers in his bag. Anko's facial expression quickly changed from a pout into an expression of glee. 

"Iruka-kun!"

Iruka froze as a somewhat familiar voice called out to him, and he felt a drop of sweat run down his face.

'…_What the hell does Anko want...?'_

It was well known that the kunoichi had a few screws lose, and when she called out in that tone of voice it was wise to either run away or pray for an opportunity to run. Iruka, however, being the nice, polite person he was, turned around to greet her. He noticed Kurenai there as well.

'…_why do I feel like I've just been cornered…?_

"Anko-san, Kurenai-san. Is there something you want?"

Anko walked over and draped a friendly arm over his shoulder.

"I just came back from an _interesting_ conversation with Kakashi…"

Iruka's eyes widened.

'_Oh shit…'_

"And I was wondering… just where did you get that mark on your neck, Iruka-sensei?"

The blush came. It started in his cheeks and spread all across his face. What exactly had Kakashi said during his 'conversation' with Anko?

"I-I…"

"IRUKA-SENSEI!"

Iruka could have kissed his little brother figure for the save. He fell backwards as a blur of orange, blonde, and blue glomped onto him.

"Hello, Naruto-kun."

"Ne, will you take me out for ramen, Iruka sensei? Gaara's with his family, so…"

"Sure Naruto-kun."

Naruto gave a yelp of joy, ready to run to Ichiraku's, when he caught sight of the two kunoichi. He pointed to Anko.

"Hey, it's creepy vampire lady from the exams!"

A vein throbbed on the so called 'vampire lady's forehead.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A VAMPIRE!"

"It's true! You like to suck peoples blood! Vampire lady!"

Iruka and Kurenai almost choked on their laughter, and quickly turned it into hacking coughs when Anko glared daggers at them.

She turned back to argue with the blonde but found him gone. Naruto, having a rather short attention span when it came to his favorite food, had lost interest in the conversation when Anko turned around and had bolted towards Ichiraku. Iruka bid a quick goodbye to the two women and walked after the blonde. Anko pouted, having been interrupted in her sadistic interrogating _again. _

"I was going to get them a present too… but I don't know who was uke and who was seme!"

Kurenai put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Give them in one package, they can figure it out from there."

Anko grinned (perversely).

"Yosh! Now to get them… lets head over to Keesha's shop!"

* * *

(Back to Kakashi and Hinata…) 

"S-so where were you off to, K-Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi wasn't so sure if he should answer her.

"I… was just hanging around. What are you up to, Hinata-chan?"

He did his eye smile. Hinata blushed slightly and looked towards the ground. She had been heading for Keesha's shop, bit she wasn't sure if she should tell that to the older man.

"A-anou… just w-wandering around I guess…"

"Hinata-chan!"

Both Kakashi and Hinata turned to face the cheerful voice that called out to them. T.C. ran up to them, a take out container of ramen dangling in her hand.

"Oh, and Kakashi-san too! Are you guys headed to the shop? We're having a sale today!"

Kakashi expected the Hyuuga heiress to blush and stutter as usual, and was surprised when Hinata instead grinned happily at her friend.

"Actually I was…"

The two started chattering and walking away, and Kakashi looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

* * *

After a brunch which consisted of Temari chattering away and her brother's pretending to listen to avoid her wrath, the three walked onto the street. Getting a few curious glances from passerby that were soon thrown off by a glare from a certain homicidal redhead. Gaara was about to walk off on his own when he spotted a certain someone. 

"…Kankuro, walk with me."

Kankuro groaned.

'_Don't tell me that Gaara's trying to get into this 'family-bonding' shit too…'_

He turned around to complain when he saw the smirk on his little brothers face. It wasn't regular smirk, but a smirk that distinctively said, 'I know something you don't and if you want to find out what that is then you have to follow me.' This should have made the puppet user wary, but instead it piqued his interest. He stared to follow Gaara, not noticing Temari looking at them with her eyebrows raised.

He followed his brother down the street, not bothering to ask where they were going as he knew he wouldn't get an answer. He caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye. Then he turned around to stare.

'_Is that…?'_

Before he could look away he found himself staring at a pair of pale eyes.

'…_Gaara didn't…'_

It was then that he realized that said person was nowhere to be found.

'…_Shit.'_

_

* * *

_  
Neji was out to buy some new shuriken when he swore he felt someone staring at him. Activating his Byakugan, he saw exactly who was staring at him, purple paint and all. He also caught sight of a certain redhead smirking at him and disappearing.

'_Cocky bastard…'_

He turned around in time to catch Kankuro's eyes before the puppet master could look away and started to walk toward him.

'_This should be interesting…'_

_

* * *

_  
Gaara strolled down another street, idly wondering what the effects of his meddling would be. Before he could fully complete his thoughts he was bowled over by a certain blonde individual.

"Gaara!"

Gaara gave a small smile as he sat up and looked at Naruto.

"…Naruto."

Neither of the boys noticed two pairs of amused and slightly sadistic eyes watching them.

TBC

* * *

Hehe, wanna guess who was watching them? Oh yes, I will get to the GaaNaru lemon... in time. Don't lose patience! I wanna do a nejikan one too... Oh, just a heads up I will be gone from july 7-21 'cause i'm going on tour with my choir. That means no internet access, unfortunately. T.T I'll try to get in one more chapter before i leave though... Again, sorry for the late update and weird-ass chapter... 

Review? Please?

-Naruto gives his famous puppy dog eyes-

-Kakashi waves cheerily while reading his book-

-Neji meditates-

-Kankuro makes Karasu dance-

-Gaara death glares and promply melts as he catches sight of Naruto's eyes-

-Authoress looks at them all, amused-


	28. Chapter 28

Hello! Hee, I got out one more chapter before I go to Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

This is beta'd by the lovely **kakashinu**. Thanks a lot!

Neji: You mean you just got a beta reader, after 27 chapters? How sad. -scoff-

Tina-chan: Well, I never thought about it before and she offered!

Naruto: -cute grin- what a nice person!

Gaara: -nod-

Kankuro: You mean she actually took time out of her schedule to beta this? Way to take pity on bad spellers...

Tina-chan: T.T ...You and Neji are meeeeean!

Warnings: The usual.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing some characters to feed the ideas of my twisted mind... Thank you Kishimoto-sama!

* * *

Kyuubi glanced at Shukaku, both amused and perplexed. 

"…They're still virgins."

She clearly wanted an explanation; unfortunately, the tanuki was just as confused as she was.

"…Don't look at me, I don't know why."

"But they're both teenagers! With hormones! How can they not have done it yet? This can't be healthy for either of them!"

If Shukaku didn't know that this was Kyuubi no yoko, the destroyer of villages, the bane of ninja, he would have sworn that she sounded… maternal? He shook his head mentally; there was no way.

"I guess you're right about it being unusual… they definitely should have done it by now unless…"

"…You're not suggesting that they…?"

"It's possible. I think that previous jinchuuriki have…"

"We are checking this out right now. I mean, hormonal teenage boys…!"

"-sigh- Yeah, I know, I know… Hmph, you're starting to sound attached to those two…"

Kyuubi stared at him blankly.

"Well, yeah. Aren't you? That gaki is the closest thing I have to a real kit, how could I not get attached? And your kit too…"

"He is _not_ my kit. Feh, those gaki are making you soft…"

Kyuubi gave a warning growl.

"Care to test that theory?"

Actually, he did not care to test that theory. As the kitsune glared daggers at him he fled to Gaara's consciousness to avoid the wrath of his mate.

'_Great job Shukaku, out of all the people you could have chosen to mate you chose the Kyuubi, the strongest of the Biju. Just brilliant.' _

Kyuubi waited until her mate had fled to his container then turned to her own. She huffed for a bit then grinned a sadistic grin.

'_Hmph. Getting soft my ass… He's not getting any for a week!'_

_

* * *

_

Neji walked over to Kankuro and looked over the puppet master appraisingly. He caught sight of the t-shirt, read it, and inwardly twitched. The t-shirt was mocking him! (A/N: see last chapter if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

"Anything specific make you change your style from weird to insulting?"

Kankuro eyed him warily.

"Any reason you want to know?"

"…It looks good on you."

That was not an answer he was expecting out of Neji's mouth.

"…Thanks. Temari forced me into it."

This made Neji raise an eyebrow. His sister forced him…?

"And how exactly did she do that?"

Kankuro shrugged nonchalantly.

"The usual. Threats of bodily harm, actual bodily harm, and 'the look.'"

"…Do I even want to know?"

"Pray that it's never directed your way."

Neji didn't quite know what to think of that but kept his thoughts to himself. Temari hadn't seemed that bad when he met her…

"So what are you hanging around here for?"

"I was shopping."

Kankuro suddenly got a mental image of Neji loaded down with frilly shopping bags and sniggered. Neji didn't like being laughed at. It was bad enough that Kankuro's t-shirt was mocking him, now he had the gall to laugh at him?

"What's so funny?" Said Neji, slightly miffed. Then Kankuro asked something he really shouldn't have asked, or that anyone on their right mind should have asked.

"Hey Neji, has anyone ever mistaken you for a girl?"

Neji's expression darkened immediately; he just had to bring up a sore point, didn't he? Kankuro slowly started to get nervous about the look on Neji's face.

'…_Maybe I shouldn't have asked that… but it is a valid question.'_

"…And what if I have been mistaken for one? Why, do you think I'm a girl?"

His voice had a dangerous edge to it, and Kankuro felt a bit nervous. He began to back away slowly.

'_I'm not a girl dammit! What, is it the long hair or something?'_

"Well no, but… Some people might have, because your hair's really long."

Neji didn't bother to answer; peeved, he jumped on a roof to get away before he did something embarrassing in front of the public. Kankuro sweatdropped then followed him.

'_Jeez, touchy much?'_

_

* * *

_  
Kurenai and Anko were walking down the street towards you know where when they caught sight of a friend of theirs.

"Keesha-chan!"

Keesha looked back to see two of her best customers walking together. She waved cheerily.

"Hello Anko-chan! I just sent T.C. to the shop so it should be open now. You two doing anything in particular?"

"Well, I was trying to get Kakashi to spill what he did with Iruka but the Hyuuga kid-

"Her name's Hinata."

"Okay, Hinata came so Kurenai decided we had to leave."

Anko shot a dirty look at the other kunoichi. Kurenai just rolled her eyes.

"Then we ran into Iruka and I was just getting information when the blonde kid-

"Naruto."

"…So when _Naruto_ came he asked Iruka to buy him ramen so I was thwarted _again_. Can you believe that?"

Keesha just shook her head.

"Did you really expect to get anything out of them? I only got pictures because-

"YOU GOT PICTURES?"

A tiny Scary Smirk twitched at the edge of Keesha's mouth.

"…Maybe."

"Oh yeah, I heard you're going out with Gai! So, what's he like? I've always wondered because you know, he's got the potential for…"

Anko rambled on while her fellow comrades turned a lovely shade of pink from her vivid descriptions. Kurenai cut her off.

"You really need to get a life Anko. Is smut, slash, and het all you ever think about?"

"Of course not!"

"Then what else do you think about?"

"… Um…"

(The minutes tick by)

"…Oh Keesha, can I commission something from you?"

"Sure, what do you want?"

"Well…"

* * *

Neji landed on the training field, having lost Kankuro a while back. To his joy he saw Tenten practicing. He walked over to the weapon summoner. 

"…Tenten, will you spar with me?"

Tenten looked over at him, sweating a little.

'_Oh, it's Neji. Hm, he looks kind of miffed today. That's weird…'_

"Sure. Hey, did something happen? You look at little… down."

"…"

'_Ha! Something is wrong! Maybe I can help him… after all, what are teammates for?'_

Tenten sat and patted the grass next to her.

"Sit."

Neji pondered it for a second then sat.

"So what happened?"

"…He asked me if I've ever been mistaken for a girl."

Tenten's ears perked up, and she inwardly giggled at the image of a cross-dressing Neji.

"Who asked you that?"

"Kankuro. Stupid…"

While Neji quietly grumbled to himself, Tenten was thinking.

'_Kankuro… why does that sound… Ah ha! Temari's brother!'_

"Kankuro... Temari-san's brother?"

"…Hai."

"I doubt he meant anything by it. Why, did you think he was insulting your manliness or something?"

"…"

'_Bingo. Wait, why would he care of he…? Omg, don't tell me that they…?'_

"So are you two going out or something?"

"…!"

'_OMG, Neji's got a boyfriend! I wonder if they've XXXX (censored for explicit content.)'_

"And you felt slighted by him, so now you're sulking. Well, if it bothers you that much, show him that you're not a woman in any way, shape or form! Next time you see him just censored censored censored, and I bet he'll never think that again. You could also censored and…"

While Tenten went on her little fangirl rant Neji was looking at her wide eyed, his mouth gaping open in a most un-Neji like manner. Inner-Neji was impressed.

'_The fuck…!'_

'_Hey, she's got some good ideas.'_

'_Tenten..!'_

'_Well, we can't do that sort of stuff until you get over the kissing thing…'_

'…_wha?'_

'_You only kissed him once! And that barely counted!'_

'_Well I can't make out with him in the middle of a street!'_

'…_Why not?'_

'…_my sub conscience is an exhibitionist…'_

'_You just figured that out?'_

Tenten dragged herself out of her (x-rated) fantasies and noticed that Neji was spaced out. Deciding that her job was done, she stood up and dusted herself off.

"Neji?"

Neji started slightly and noticed Tenten staring at him.

"Hai?"

"Just remember what I told you and I'm sure you and Kankuro-kun will be fine."

She walked away to leave Neji wondering exactly how long Tenten had been a closet perv, and why he never noticed before. If he had looked at Tenten he would have seen the happy smile on her face and been afraid. _Very_ afraid.

'_My ninja skills will now be put the test like never before… but I will stalk Neji without him noticing me! Now, where's my camera…?'_

_

* * *

_  
Having lost Neji, Kankuro was wandering around near the forest when he ran into an old acquaintance.

"Kankuro! Is that you? Man, it's been forever!"

The puppet master turned around to see a somewhat familiar figure waving cheerily.

"…Kiba, right?"

"Yeah! How are ya? It's been what, about three years?"

"I guess. Hey, where's the mutt?"

"Neesan's giving him a check up today. So what brings you to Konoha again?"

Kankuro shrugged.

"Gaara wanted to see his boyfriend."

"Nani?"

"He hooked up with Uzumaki."

"What? No way!"

"Well, he did. Have you seen Neji?"

"Neji? No, not today. Any particular reason?"

"He's pms-ing and I want to make sure he's okay. He's so emotional sometimes…"

He noticed that Kiba looked confused.

"Are you kidding me? Neji's like, the ice prince of Konoha! Also, he would kill you if he heard you say he was pms-ing."

"Pft, what else would you call it? Stupid Hyuuga. Getting all worked up over nothing…"

"…You have to show me this sometime. Anyway, what's this about Uzumaki hooking up with your brother?"

"Well…"

* * *

Naruto sneezed and looked around, confused. 

'_Nani?'_

'_Hello kit, how are you?'_

'…_Kyuubi? Is that you?'_

'_Of course it's me baka, who else would it be?'_

Gaara also sneezed.

'…_If someone's talking about me, I'll kill them.'_

'_You'd probably have to kill an awful lot of people you know…'_

'…_Shukaku?'_

'_Duh.'_

'…_Fuck.'_

'_Awww, didn't you miss me?'_

'…_No.'_

'_You are a cruel, cruel person.'_

'…_Look who's talking.'_

'_Hey, Kyuu and I were wondering…'_

'_Wondering what?'_

'_Well…'_

_

* * *

_  
'_Hey kit.'_

'_Un?'_

'_Have you been feeling… weird lately?'_

'_Um, no. Why?'_

'_There's something that Shukaku and I have to tell you and Gaara…'_

TBC

* * *

Muahahaha, a cliffie. -runs from angry readers- Yes, you will find out what they're talking about when I get back. In the meantime... Review Please! 

Neji: They're going to kill you for that cliffhanger.

Kankuro: Yep. Cause now they have to wait a whole two weeks before you can even start to type the new chapter. And aren't you going away again after that?

Tina-chan: Eh, thats not until August. If I get reviews I'll try to update right when I get back...

Naruto: Why do you love reviews so much?

Tina-chan: Because they feed my yaoi soul. Thats why most authors grovel shamelessly for reviews. They're our lifeforce.

Gaara: ...Is that why you have over 600 of them?

Tina-chan: ...I have... over... 600...?

Gaara: -nod- Hai.

Tina-chan: O.O -faints-

Neji: ...Looks like she's out for the count.

Kankuro: Hey, lookit! -starts drawing on authoresses face-

Naruto: Hey, that's mean...! Actually... that looks fun! Let me do it! -joins Kankuro-

Gaara: -sweatdrops-

Hinata: Anou, Review please!


	29. Chapter 29

Guess what peeps? I'M BACK! WHOOT!Tour was awesome, but I had to go two weeks without a computer! T.T But I did get a cute Gaara keychain, a Gaara dogtag, and a Gaara/Naruto wallet. Yay! Oh, and guess what else? This story actually has some form of a plot now! (surprising, huh?)

Neji/Kankuro/Kakashi: O.o WHA?

Neji: You mean this thing actually has a plotline?

Kankuro: And it's not just a bunch a random scenarios that appear in your twisted mind?

Tina-chan: No, its not! Hmph, i put in a good scene for you two and all i get is abuse... anyway, thanks to all the lovely people who had to deal with the evil cliffie, luv u all!

* * *

'_So what exactly do you two have to tell us?' thought Gaara suspiciously_. 

'_Well you know how you two have gone out for a while?'_

'_Yes.'_

'_And you haven't had sex, right?'_

'…_Not that it's any of your business, but no.'_

'_You've wanted to though, right? You just don't feel like the timing is quite right.'_

'…_And you know this because…?'_

'_Well-'_

* * *

'_-It's because you two have inherited a certain demon attribute.'_

'_Huh?'_

_Kyuubi sighed exasperatedly. _

'_You guys are now sensitive to mating season. It's happened to some previous Jinchuuriki. Since I've been in you for so long our chakra has started to coexist and absorb into one another's. My guess is that this caused you to inherit some things that only demons have usually. Same for Gaara.'_

'_Okay. So what's the big deal about this mating season thing?'_

'_Well, mating season makes demons emit pheromones to attract a mate. It also messes with your chakra, and you feel a deep connection to whoever you are destined to mate with. In this case it's definitely Gaara, but…'_

'_But what?'_

'_You two will probably attract other demons that might be prowling around.'_

'_What!'_

* * *

'_And why would that be?' Gaara asked calmly._

'_Because you guys are holding the power of two major demons. Besides that, you two might go through some changes.'_

'_What kind of changes?'_

'_You'll have to wait and see, now won't you? Oh, and watch out for other demons who might start hitting on you.'_

* * *

'_How would demons get into Konoha, Kyuubi?'_

_Kyuubi snorted._

'_I'd be painfully easy. Ninja are only human after all. Oh, and Naruto?'_

'_Yeah?'_

'_If anyone hits on your mate, kick their ass.'_

'…_You think that I wouldn't?'_

'_Gaara has a weaker demon in him so he would be a better target.'_

'_Heh, we'll see about that. Gaara can take care of himself.'_

* * *

The two boys left their subconscious's and snapped back into reality. 

"So she told you?"

"Yep. Oh, and Kyuubi said that it would probably start soon for us."

"…Hn. Guess we'll just have to see what happens."

"Yep!"

* * *

"-So that's what's happened since we came to Konoha." Kankuro finished. Kiba looked a bit shell shocked. 

"So let me get this straight. Your brother and Naruto hook up together, which causes your sister and Shikamaru to hook up together, and Neji kissed you? WTF?"

Kankuro sighed wearily.

"Yeah, I know it's weird. It's like it's been written by someone with a twisted mind.'

Kiba thought this over and shook his head.

"Damn… so are you and Hyuuga and item now or something?"

"Um…"

Now that Kankuro thought about it, what where they? When he first met Neji, he thought he was a big prick… then they'd started to have a weird sort of friendship… that Neji seemed to want to take further. And what did he think about Neji?

"Guess I'm not sure yet..." He mumbled softly. Kiba thought some more.

"Well he seems to like you from what you've told me. Neji can be a bit of a prick sometimes, but he's gotten better after Naruto beat him in the exams. He's actually a pretty good guy I guess, and Hinata's been saying that he's actually nice to her lately. If you're not sure, I would recommend giving him a try. Try to lighten him up, 'kay?"

"…You know, I never considered you particularly intelligent until just now."

"WHAT! Hey, I'm trying to help here!"

Kankuro smiled wryly at the enraged Inuzuka.

"Yeah I know, and thanks for that."

Kiba calmed down a bit when he heard the sincerity in the statement.

"Whatever. Glad to help I guess."

A new voice cut into their conversation.

"…Kiba."

The two looked up. Kankuro looked over the newcomer quizzically while Kiba cheerily waved a hand in greeting.

"Hey Shino! Wazzup?"

Shino didn't respond but pointed behind himself, where Akamaru was trotting at a leisurely pace. When he saw his friend however he ran at full speed and tacked Kiba to the ground, licking his face furiously. Kankuro looked in awe at how big the mutt had grown. He was huge!

"Damn, I didn't know dogs could get that big!"

"C'mon Akamaru, OFF! Yeah, he's definitely grown a bit since you saw him last."

Shino, who felt ignored, started to leave. Kiba noticed and stood up.

"Hey, wait Shino! I haven't introduced you to Kankuro yet!"

Shino stopped and turned around, appraising the puppet master. Kankuro outstretched his hand.

"Shino, right? Hey."

After a moment Shino took his hand out of the pocket of his jacket and shook.

"…Hello."

Kiba went up and slapped his teammate on the back.

"Yeah, he's not the most talkative person. Hey Shino, you'll never guess what's been going on!"

Kiba then proceeded to give Shino a narrative of what Kankuro had told him. Shino's face was unreadable as usual afterwards, but he pointed towards the training grounds.

"…I saw Hyuuga Neji over there."

Kankuro sighed and headed off in the indicated direction.

"Thanks!"

* * *

Hinata started up to her room. She had spent a lot of time reading and talking with T.C. in the shop, and the girls were planning to go to an anime convention that was coming up soon. T.C. had suggested cos-playing, and Hinata had agreed. It would be fun making the costume! She turned down one of the many halls in the Hyuuga compound and ran into the one person she didn't really want to see at the moment. Hyuuga Hiashi glanced down at his oldest child. 

"Hello, Hinata."

"Oto-sama. Do you want something?"

Hiashi raised an eyebrow. Usually Hinata stuttered constantly, especially in front of him. It was rare that she did not.

"Were you out?"

"Yes."

"You've been out a lot lately."

"I've been with my friends."

"I hope that you're keeping up with your training. It's disgraceful that your younger sister is progressing at a rapid pace while you, the heiress, are just normal."

The man's eyebrows furrowed a bit.

"Now that I mention it, Neji seems to be out quite a bit too. Has he also 'been with friends'?"

Hinata was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"I-I'm not sure."

Hiashi stared for a moment, then dismissed her. Hinata walked to her room, feeling a bit discomforted.

'_What… What would Oto-sama think about Neji-nissan's and my attractions? I don't think that would have a pretty outcome…'_

* * *

Gaara was having a snack with Naruto when he _swore_ he felt someone watching him. He quickly turned his head and glared at the crowd of people bustling behind him, but couldn't pick out any possible staring culprits. Naruto noticed his agitation. 

"What's wrong?"

"…Nothing. I just felt like someone was staring at me."

"Oh. Do you think it was another fangirl?"

Gaara relaxed slightly when Naruto said that. Yeah, it was probably just another rabid fangirl. However, he couldn't quite fight off a strange feeling that it was something more that that. Naruto smiled to himself when he saw Gaara relax slightly. Still, the conversation he had with Kyuubi before she and Shukaku went off to explore the town still ate at him.

'_He might be able to take care of himself, but still watch out for him.'_

'_Hey Kyuubi? You said that people would go after Gaara because Shukaku was weaker, but wouldn't they want a stronger mate?'_

'_Probably, but they wouldn't have the guts to go after someone connected to me. I chose a weaker mate because Shukaku appealed to me.'_

'_I'm surprised you got any offers at all…'_

'_What was that, gaki?'_

'_Nothing!'_

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts when Gaara nudged him in the side none too gently.

"Hey, snap out of it. Look, it's T.C."

Naruto turned around in his seat and caught sight of their friend. He started to wave his arms around.

"Hey, T.C.! Over here!"

The girl noticed the two and her face lit up in recognition. She walked towards them.

"Hey Naru-kun, whazzup?"

"Just having a snack!"

"Cool. Mind if I join you guys?"

"Nope!"

She sat between the two and ordered a plate of green tea mochi.

"So I was wondering… you two entered the mating season yet?"

Naruto suddenly choked in the water that he had been drinking. Gaara slapped him on the back until he had returned to normal, then glared at the girl who had been watching them calmly.

"…How did you know about that?"

T.C. smirked slightly.

"My family knows a lot about demons and Jinchuuriki. You know; lifestyle, rituals, etc. Auntie's old enough to know about the whole Kyuubi incident, and told me. She knew that it wouldn't bother me, and it doesn't. Plus, if I had gotten to meet you earlier I would be nice instead of taking after the elders of the village. Personally, I don't know why humans think that demons are so bad. After all, the mating thing certainly makes a lot of sense."

Naruto and Gaara looked very interested in this.

"Anou sa, so you know a lot about this whole mating season thing?"

"I'm not an expert or anything, but I know more than most people. Hey, you think that Auntie and I could meet Kyuubi-sama and Shukaku-sama sometime? We're really interested to know more about the demon culture."

Naruto smiled widely at T.C., happy to know that there was another person who didn't care about him and Gaara having demons inside them.

"Sure!'

"…Hmph, if you want to. I'll warn you though; Shukaku's not the brightest person ever."

T.C. smiled at him.

"You sure that's not just a personal bias?"

Gaara didn't bother to answer that.

* * *

Kyuubi was worried. Shukaku had gone off to closer inspect the Hokage monuments, and she had wandered around, eventually going to watch Naruto and Gaara. That was when she had thought she sensed _him _again… he was one of reasons she had made Shukaku come back to the village early. 

-Flashback-

"I see you finally found a life mate, Kyuubi-san."

Kyuubi turned to see Orochi, the eight-headed snake demon, looking at her. She automatically stepped in front of her sleeping mate in case of attack.

"Why so agitated? That wounds me. Did that one time truly mean nothing to you?"

"No, it didn't. You know as well as me that most demons sleep around until they find a life mate. You do, Shukaku did, and I did. Still bitter that I didn't accept you as a life mate?"

"You never told me why you didn't accept me, you know."

Kyuubi laughed sarcastically.

"A life mate bond is supposed to be based on genuine love and loyalty. You just wanted the strongest mate, to lift your own status. Truthfully, I don't think you'll ever find one, because you seem incapable of caring."

While Kyuubi's voice was calm, the rest of her body showed her barely contained fury. Orochi'seight heads leered at her.

"I see you still remember what I did for revenge?"

Kyuubi's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I remember. How could I forget someone who tricked me into attacking a village and getting sealed?"

The snake grinned at her.

"Of course I had to make a deal with that man to do that but… I think it was worth it."

Now it was Kyuubi's turn to leer.

"Actually, I think I quite like it. The gaki's definitely going to be great someday and if I hadn't been sealed in him I wouldn't have met my mate."

"Ah yes, the blonde brat. So does he have a mate now also?"

"That's none of your business."

"Actually my dear, it is. Maybe I should go check on it? Mating season starts later for Jinchuuriki, so…"

"Don't you dare, you…!"

Before the enraged Kitsune finished her sentence the snake was gone. Kyuubi muttered underneath her breath. This was not good…

-End flashback-

"If he really came here, I'll kill him…" Kyuubi muttered out loud. Shukaku had been worried when he found out, even if he didn't show it. She smiled fondly; as much as he tried to put on a careless act, Shukaku really did worry about Gaara. As she worried about Naruto.

* * *

Neji was walking home. Tenten's rant had really unsettled him and he wasn't sure if he could face Kankuro without embarrassing himself…. Especially since he was currently experiencing **unwanted** images! 

'_Unwanted my ass.'_

'_No, shut up! I'm not listening to you!'_

'_You know you're a perv on the inside. I'm subconscious proof of that.'_

'_Still not listening…'_

'_Hey, watch where you're…'_

Smack!

'…_Walking.'_

Neji cursed vividly and clutched his head, which was currently throbbing thanks to contact with something hard. The person across from him was doing the same.

"Fuck, Neji that hurt! Is that Byakugan thing worth anything? Itai!"

"I was walking, so you probably weren't paying attention to where you were going either." Neji snapped back. Kankuro merely rolled his eyes.

'_He's still pms-ing I see…'_

"Why are you here anyway?"

"Actually I was checking to see if you were okay, but evidently you don't want to see me now."

Neji calmed down immediately.

"…Why worry about me?"

"Just do."

"…Thanks."

Neji stood up and offered his hand. Kankuro took it and was about to haul him-self up when he saw a kunai flying at Neji's hand.

"Shit!"

He instead pulled on the outstretched hand, making Neji fall while the kunai whizzed overhead and thunked into a wall. Neither boy really noticed however, as they were otherwise occupied at the moment. Neji, not expecting the pull, had fallen down completely unexpectedly. However, instead of smashing into the ground he landed on something infinitely nicer. Mainly, Kankuro's face. Neji, seeing an opportunity, did the only thing he could possibly do in this kind of situation: reposition him-self so that his lips were on Kankuro's and press down. To his delight the other boy tentatively responded, entwining the fingers of one of his hands in Neji's long, silky black hair. Neji smirked slightly into the kiss and deftly swiped his tongue against Kankuro's bottom lip, asking for entrance. It was granted, and two battled for dominance until Kankuro decided to just enjoy it and let Neji take over. It was actually one of the nicer kisses that he had received and he was disappointed when the eventual need for oxygen forced them apart. Neji loomed over him, breathing heavily. Kankuro studied him.

"So what does this mean, Hyuuga?"

Neji smirked down at him.

"It means I like you."

"Guess for once we're in the same mindset."

"Glad to hear it."

Neji suddenly stood up, helping Kankuro up in the process.

"I would love to continue this but we seem to have a stalker. See you later?"

"You know where to find me."

The two headed off in different direction. Supposedly hidden behind a tree, Tenten silently cursed the Byakugan.

'_Oh well. I got some nice footage! Hmm, I guess Temari-san would like to see this too. I'll email it to her."_

_TBC_

* * *

There you go. Can't you just feel a plotline forming? I'm going to have fun with this. Bye for now! 

Neji: -glares evilly- Can't any of us have a moment without being spied on by scary people?

Tina-chan: Now what would the fun in that be?

Neji: -mutters insulting things under his breath-

Tina-chan: -smirk-

Review please! This entire chapter was written from about 12:36 am to 6:28 am. I would appreciate them greatly. Luv u all!


	30. Chapter 30

Naruto: -poking authoresses, who has gone comatose- I told her to wait to check her reviews... now she's in shock.

Kankuro: Oh yeah, she wanted tell you guys...

Neji: ...that she's going away _again_. She'll be at choir camp from august 6-16.

Kankuro: Which means no electronics, which means no computer...

Neji: ...which means no updates. Well, at least she had the sense to update before she left...

Kankuro: ...So she doesn't get mauled.

Disclaimer: Nope, belongs to Kishimoto-sama.

* * *

Temari had just finished checking her email when one of her little brothers strolled in the door, too bad for him. 

"KANKUROOOOO!"

Kankuro squawked in fear and surprise when his dear aneki pummeled down the stairs and glomped his to within an inch of his life, babbling incoherently. He gasped for air.

"T-Temari…! c-can't… b-breathe…"

After one last squeeze his sister let him go, looking at him expectantly. He stared back.

"…What?"

"…Well? Aren't you going to tell me what happened with Neji-kun?"

Kankuro went pale underneath his makeup.

"H-how the hell did you know about…?"

Temari gave him the Scary Sister smile.

"I' m a big sister Kankuro, I know these things. So did you two make out, or what?"

The puppet master dropped his head into his hands, embarrassed. He just had to have an older sister who was a total Hentai. He'd accidentally run across one of her 'romance novels' a while ago, and it scarred his poor eyes for months.

"That's none of your business!"

"Fine, fine. Do you know what direction he went?"

"To his house, why do you…?"

Before he could complete his sentence his older sister was out the door. He looked after her, wondering just where the _hell_ she was going.

* * *

Neji was almost at his house when he noticed someone approaching behind him. Activating his Byakugan, he realized that it was Kankuro's big sister, Temari. For some strange reason, a shiver of fear went up his spine. 

'_Now, where did that come from…?'_

'_Premonition, perhaps?'_

'_Of what?'_

He paused and waited for her to catch up with him.

"Is there something I can do for you, Temari-san?"

She flashed him a smile and he noticed that she was leaning on her giant fan, which suddenly looked a lot more ominous than usual.

"Nope, I'm just here to do my duty as a big sister."

Neji felt the sudden urge to run away. His ninja sense were tingling, and they were telling him to, 'get the fuck out of there, you moron.'

"And seeing as you're going out with my brother, I have a few things to say."

Neji almost ran away but was immediately stilled by 'The Look'. It was possibly the scariest thing he'd ever witnessed, and put both the Byakugan and Sharingan to shame. It was enough to have both the Uchiha brothers and Orochimaru running crying to their mommies, or in Orochimaru's case, Kabuto. Such was the power of overprotective Aneki. The scary thing was, 'The Look' could be done with a smile.

"First of all, I just want you to know that I'm happy for the both of you, and fully support your relationship. However…"

Her grip tightened on her fan.

"…If you ever hurt him, I'll beat you to within an inch of your life and castrate you ... Painfully."

Neji began praying to every god he knew to please, please let him get out of here with his life and all attached body parts. Kankuro had warned him, but _damn,_ his sister was scary. Not even Gaara could be scarier.

"Secondly… take care of my brother, okay?"

With that, 'The Look' was lifted, the fan was put on her back, and she patted him on the shoulder with a smile.

"…Or else. Oh, and remember to use protection!"

Neji almost collapsed on the ground after she left, but his pride didn't allow him to.

'_Damn… that was fucking scary… what have I gotten myself into?'_

'_Dating a guy with one a hell of scary sister and a homicidal little brother?'_

'_It was a rhetorical question.'_

'_I'm aware.'_

'…_Screw you.'_

'_Wouldn't you rather do that with your boyfriend?'_

'…_Have I mentioned that I hate you?'_

_

* * *

(The next day) _

Naruto was having lunch with his favorite sensei. Gaara had opted to give the two some privacy, and the red head told Naruto that he would visit T.C. and talk with her a bit. Now Naruto was enjoying a large bowl of miso ramen and chatting enthusiastically with his teacher. Iruka smiled at him.

"So, how have you been, Naruto?"

"Anou, I've been pretty good I guess."

'_Apart from finding out that Gaara and I have to go through some mating season thing, Kyuubi seems nervous about something, and I might get hit on from random demons disguised as people. Yep, I've been just fine.'_

Iruka looked at his former student with suspicion; he had a feeling that Naruto wasn't telling him something.

'_But… if it was something important Naruto would tell me, right…?'_

'_I won't tell Iruka-sensei everything that's going on, I wouldn't want him to go through too much stress…'_

Iruka was about to inquire if something was bothering Naruto, but was cut off by a soft, female voice.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

Naruto looked up from slurping noodles, and saw a girl standing next to him, smiling coyly.

"Nope."

"Oh, good."

The girl sat down next to him and ordered a bowl of ramen, throwing a few discreet glances his way. Naruto was starting to get uncomfortable, and he tried to finish off his ramen as fast as he could. The instant he set his chopsticks down the girl decided to talk to him. She turned in her seat and fluttered her eyelashes at him. Naruto felt uneasy.

"Oh, excuse me for not introducing myself. My name's Riiko."

Iruka raised an eyebrow at the girl's sudden interest in his little brother.

"Um, I'm… Uzumaki Naruto."

Riiko moved closer to him, stopping inches away from his face. Oh, how Naruto wanted to push her back… she was definitely a female looking for a mate, and he wanted none of it.

"Hello Naruto-kuuun, how are you?"

Iruka was strongly reminded of Sakura and the way she fawned over Sasuke. Naruto twitched at the sugary, girly tone of her voice. Naruto silently thanked the gods for the fact that Kyuubi didn't act like this.

"Sorry, but… IalreadyhaveamateandnowIreallyhavetogosobye!"

Naruto literally pulled a surprised Iruka out of the ramen stand and practically ran down the street, leaving a blinking Riiko behind.

'_Damn, he's taken? Oh well…'_

Another figure sat down next to her and also ordered a bowl of ramen.

"Guess it didn't go over too well, right sis?"

She scowled at the smirking young man next to her.

"Shut up, how was I supposed to know? He's not marked or anything!"

"Guess you have a point. Y'know, the other guy with him was kinda cute…"

Riiko raised her eyebrows.

"He's a human."

"Hey, I can look can't I?"

"Go after him if you want, I'm leaving. Damn, that blonde was cute too…"

The girl paid for her ramen and left, her older brother staring in the direction that Naruto had run off with Iruka.

In another street the chuunin teacher was giving Naruto his best, 'you're hiding something from me and I want to know what it is NOW' look.

"So Naruto, what is this I hear about _mating_?"

Naruto looked sheepish.

'_Oh shit.'_

"Well, it's kinda hard to explain…

* * *

Gaara found T.C. in the shop, leaning on the cashier counter and gazing at something intently, a small smile on her face. Intrigued, Gaara crept up behind her silently to see what she was looking at. A small smirk crossed his features when he saw exactly who was in the picture she was gazing at. 

'_So is that how it is…?'_

"…Hey."

T.C. started in surprise, quickly snatched up the photo in her hands, and turned around, her glasses hanging off her nose in surprise. She blushed but looked relieved when she noticed it was Gaara behind her.

'_Damn bastard, sneaking up on me like that!'_

She pushed her glasses back up.

"Hi Gaara, didn't see you there. What's up?"

"…So you finally caught on. Are you going to do something about it? Also… it's about time."

Smirk.

Glare.

'_Stupid spying sand shinobi…'_

"It's… complicated, okay? So I assume you wanted to learn more about mating season?"

"Hai."

"'Kay, just a sec…"

Digging underneath the counter, the girl pulled out an old, dusty scroll and spread it open over the counter. Both teens bent over to examine it.

"Auntie said we should look at this one, so…"

She put her finger on a certain part.

"The thing you guys should do first is to mark each other. Marking gives you guys a certain scent, telling others that you're taken. Won't deter some, but at least most people will leave you alone."

"…and this marking is done by…?"

T.C. stared at him like he was an idiot. Gaara bristled slightly.

"By sex, what do you think?" _'Duh.'_

"…I knew that." _'Yes, I think we should do that really soon…heh.'_

"So, anyone try to hit on you on the way here?"

Her answer was a heated glare, and inwardly she smirked.

'_Apparently so…'_

Gaara growled to himself, yes some guy had tried to hit on him, only to be given a glare that could cause a person to spontaneously combust. This seemed only to egg the guy on even further, and Gaara had been sorely tempted to kill the guy on the spot and make his blood rain down on the street, like in the chuunin exams. Unfortunately he couldn't, so he settled for punching the guy in the stomach -forcefully- and putting sand in his eyes. He'd left him passed out on the street, eyes twitching from the discomfort of the sand. He was feeling mighty frustrated right now…

Twitch

Gaara really wanted to see his boyfriend right now… he almost felt as if some force was tugging at him, telling him to go. He turned to bid T.C. farewell.

"…I have to go… bye."

"Bye Gaara, I'll see if I can find more stuff for you guys."

Suddenly Gaara remembered something he had picked up earlier and had yet to pay for.

"…I want to get this."

T.C. looked at the object in his hands and couldn't hide a perverted smirk from gracing her features.

"It's okay, just take it. Consider it a gift. You want a bag?"

Gaara shook his head, and slipped it into his pocket. He was about to exit the door when he turned around one more time.

"If you really like her, just tell her… I don't think Hinata will reject you."

Then he was gone out the door. T.C. looked at the picture in her hands, one of her and Hinata at the festival in their yukata. A sad smile touched her face.

"She might not… but what about her family?"

* * *

Hinata was passing by Hanabi's room and happened to look inside. Her little sister had a smirk of pure perversion on her face, and was looking at something on her computer. Hintata came in to check just what Hanabi was looking at. Hanabi turned to look as her oneechan entered the room, smirk still on her face. 

"Neji-nii's been naughty..."

In another room, Neji felt a shiver run down his spine and sneezed.

TBC

* * *

Gaara: She awake yet? 

Naruto: Nope.

Gaara: ...Oh brother. -sigh- guess we have to do this...

Naruto: Kay, so first of all she woud proabaly want to thank all her readers for 701 hits. Oh, and she also mentioned something about writing a oneshot for the 702nd person to review...

Gaara: ...with the pairing and plot of their choice. When she gets back, that is.

Naruto: Oh, she also has a new story out called 'Boys of Summer.'

Gaara: It's her first true AU, so she's pretty excited...

Kakashi: and the pairing is... -checks summary- ItaIru and Kakaobi? What the hell?

Anko: Ooo, sounds fun! -evil fangirl smile-

Naruto: -shudder- ...So thanks guys, and don't forget to review! -smile-

Review please!


	31. Chapter 31

Haha, i'm back from choir nerdom! XD Yeah, sorryit took so long. This chapter did something quite unexpected... inspiration calls I guess. Why won't the line thingy work? T.T

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sama.

Warnings: Lemon! (I will put **LEMON ALERT** for people who don't want to stain their virgin eyes XD)

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Neji sniffed and stared around his room warily. Where the hell had that sneeze come from…? He heard giggles from Hanabi's room and decided that he really didn't want to know. He was holding Kankuro the tiger, the name which he had decided to shorten to Kanky. He knew he probably looked ridiculous, but didn't particularly care. As long as no one came in his room, that is… The reason he had Kanky was because he had been slightly scared to sleep last nigh, courtesy of one very scary, blonde, pigtailed kunoichi. Neji gave a slight shiver.

'_Scary female… I don't know how Shikamaru survives. Then again, scary women seem to run in his family, if his reports of his mother are true…'_

He heard a knock at his door and hastily stuffed Kanky underneath his futon.

"Who is it?"

"Neji-niisan, it's just me."

Neji relaxed and opened the door. His cousin stood in the doorway, a knowing look on her face.

"Have fun yesterday?"

If Neji was a less dignified person, his eyes probably would have popped from their sockets. As it was, he gaped openly at his cousin, who giggled slightly and plopped herself on the unmade futon. Hinata patted the space next to her.

"Sit."

Blinking in surprise, Neji obeyed.

"…Who told you?"

Hinata started to snicker.

"Tenten made a fan website."

"…"

'_You are fucking kidding me.'_

'_Wow, that popular already huh?'_

'_This isn't a good thing!'_

"Please tell that's not why Hanabi was giggling earlier…"

"Well… Um, at least she's supportive?"

"…Oh gods."

Hinata patted his back sympathetically as he subconsciously pulled Kanky out from under the futon and buried his face in its fur.

"Don't be so down. I think it's great; you guys look good together. You need to let yourself go more anyway. A relationship will be good for you."

Hearing the sincerity in her words, Neji lifted his head and gave a small smile to his cousin, whom he had treated so badly.

"Arigato, Hinata-sama."

Hinata gave him an exasperated look.

"You really don't have to call me that. Its way too formal, we're family aren't we? Besides, you're older than me. Just call me Hinata, or Hinata-chan. Alright, Neji-niisan?"

Neji merely stared at his cousin, shocked at the changes that had appeared in such a short amount of time. Hinata was a lot more confident, and her stuttering had grown less and less. Also, she looked a lot happier and more… free. Neji smiled to himself; Hinata had grown into quite a kunoichi. And a lot of it seemed to be connected with her new friend. What was her name again…? Oh yes, T.C.

"You've changed a lot Hinata-s, um, -chan."

His cousin suddenly went back to one of her old habits, pushing her fingers together nervously.

"Y-you think so, Neji-niisan?"

Neji raised an eyebrow. What was with the sudden retrogression?"

"Yes, I do think so. It's nice that you made such a close friend also."

Now Hinata was blushing while pushing her fingers together, and Neji was strongly reminded of how his cousin would act around Naruto when she was younger.

"…Or maybe something more than a friend?"

"H-hai."

"Well that's good."

Hinata looked up from her finger mashing. Neji was smirking at her.

"So are you going to actually tell her, or dance around the subject forever? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you want to do something about the current situation, do you not?"

She smiled at him.

'_Arigato Neji-niisan…'_

"Hai. Anou, Neji-niisan…you like your tiger, don't you?"

Hinata, to her great amusement, saw a blush creeping along her brother cheeks.

"It's not like I usually cling to it! It's just… Temari is scary."

She patted his hand consolingly.

"She's just a tad overprotective."

'_Jeez, you think?'_

"As long as you don't screw up you won't suffer any permanent damage."

Neji glanced at his cousin.

"Thanks for that vote of support, I feel so confident now."

"At least you get a chance to work on your social skills, right?"

Neji thought it strange how easily they got along now, since they had started with a…. less than perfect relationship.

'_Even though that was mostly my fault… but it's nice that we can get along now.'_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _

Iruka almost keeled over from the sheer magnitude of what Naruto had told him.

"You can talk to Kyuubi… and Gaara can talk to Shukaku… and there are demons roaming around Konoha?"

"…Um, yeah?"

"…"

This time Iruka actually sat down with a plop and stared unbelievingly at Naruto, who was rubbing his head sheepishly.

"And you didn't tell me this before because…?"

"I didn't want you to worry, Iruka-niichan… I'm sorry."

Iruka merely stood up and shook his head, petting Naruto's messy mop of blonde hair.

"It's okay… this is just a lot to take in. But I have to ask… Konoha isn't in any danger from this, is it?"

"Nope, Kyuubi said that she'd take care of everything."

"…Okay…"

Iruka wasn't really sure about leaving all this to the Kyuubi, but Naruto seemed to trust the fox demon.

"By the way, Kyuubi's told me a few times that she'd like to meet you. So if you see her around, don't freak out or something, kay?"

"Um… okay?"

Naruto gave his big brother an affectionate hug then went off to meet Gaara, waving cheerily. Iruka gave a long suffering sigh and waved back, smiling slightly. Yep, Naruto certainly kept his life interesting… maybe a bit too interesting.

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**LEMON ALERT LEMON ALERT LEMON ALERT LEMON ALERT LEMON ALERT LEMON ALERT LEMON ALERT LEMON ALERT LEMON ALERT!**

Gaara had to stop himself from destroying innocent inanimate objects when he stalked through the door to his room, eye twitching dangerously. Naruto, who'd arrived a few minutes before, raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Something happen?"

"…If I never see another female again, I'll be happy."

"Fangirls?"

"….Worse."

"How many'd you get?"

"…Five on the way here."

Naruto suddenly felt something new: possessiveness. How dare people hit on his Gaara? He stood and gave Gaara a chaste kiss before hugging him and snuggling into his shoulder.

"So, wha'd T.C. say?"

"…You smell nice."

"…Wha?"

Gaara buried his head into the crook between Naruto's neck and his shoulder, breathing in deeply. He'd never noticed it before, but suddenly Naruto smelled… intoxicating. Naruto noticed the sudden interest.

"Gaara…?"

He cut off suddenly when he felt a warm tongue sliding over his skin, caressing it gently. His eyes filmed over slightly.

'_Oh gods… that feels good.'_

He moved his head to the side slightly to give the redhead better access and took a shaky breath, trying to keep from moaning. His nose was assailed with a particular scent. It definitely wasn't Gaara's normal scent, but it smelled so good…

"Ah!"

Gaara gasped in surprise as Naruto suddenly bit down hard on his neck, drawing a small amount of blood that was quickly licked away. He slid his eyelids shut as the blonde started sucking and nibbling at same the spot, giving him alternating feelings of both pain and pleasure. Gaara let out a soft moan; after fifteen years of pain, it felt damn good to feel pleasure in between. Naruto finished and gazed with slight pride at the sizeable mark he had created.

"You smell good too…"

Their lips meshed together as they collapsed on the bed, tongues fighting for dominance in a passionate embrace. Somewhere along the way their shirts were discarded and thrown to the floor. They each reveled in the intoxicating scent emanating from each other; Gaara was sure he'd never felt this good before. Sharing contact with someone else, someone who didn't fear or shun him… it was bliss. He was definitely fully aroused now, and he could feel Naruto's hardness poking him as well. Naruto suddenly thrust against him, rubbing their arousals together; he swore he saw sparks in his vision.

'_Fuck… I've never… felt… anything like… this.'_

Naruto was on top of him now, placing feather weight kisses against his jaw, going down to his chest, nuzzling his stomach… Gaara let out a slight whimper as he felt Naruto tug at his pant line. The blonde's eyes were gazed over with both lust and affection, a combination that Gaara never had aimed at him before.

"Gaara…"

Naruto's voice had dropped lower, and the redhead barely suppressed a shiver.

"How about we get these out of the way?"

(Should I stop here? -evil grin- ….nope, let's keep going!)

Pants are boxers were quickly removed and Naruto quickly slipped on a condom. For a while the two just started at each other, taking each other in. Gaara's breathes were coming in short pants; gods, he needed this, he'd always needed something like this. Naruto stared down at the beautiful creature before him and felt a sudden urge, and urge to claim him, take him as his own and show him that he was loved. Love…

"Naruto…I want…"

He leaned down and pressed a kiss on Gaara's 'ai' tattoo. Love.

"Yes?"

"…I want… you."

For a split second Naruto stared into his eyes; he saw want, love, need… things he'd been looking for his whole life. Someone who acknowledged him, and loved him for his he was as wasn't. Someone… who needed him. Out of nowhere a feral smirk crossed his features.

"Gaara…"

Aforementioned redhead gasped as Naruto suddenly leaned down, licking and biting all over his body, exploring every crevice he could reach. He cried out, it felt so damn good.

"…Lube… pocket... of pants…"

The blonde immediately reached down to where their discarded clothing lay, unearthing the desired object. Gaara whimpered as he felt a finger penetrate inside him. It felt weird… when the second one entered he pulled Naruto into a frenzied kiss, trying to block out the pain. The blonde felt Gaara tugging painfully on his hair and deepened the kiss, trying to sooth him. Then Gaara felt something new and almost cried out; fuck, it hurt! Years of dealing with pain both emotional and physical helped him through it however, and he shifted his body, trying to find a rhythm.

Suddenly he cried out in ecstasy and his hips arched upwards, desperate for more. Yeah it hurt but gods, when Naruto hit that spot… the pleasure far outweighed the pain. It increased even more when Naruto started pumping his shaft in rhythm with his thrusts, causing him to cry out even more.

"N-Naruto!"

They were both at their peak; Naruto came right after Gaara, his lovers name on his lips.

"Gaara… you know I love you, right?"

He merely smiled and nodded, completely exhausted. Naruto obviously noticed because he pulled the covers over both of them and wrapped his arms around Gaara, who fell asleep in a couple of seconds.

'_I wonder what comes after this…'_

Temari finished putting her clothes back on and turned to the boy still resting on the bed.

"We're still on for dinner, right?"

Shikamaru nodded lazily, a rare smile on his usually bored features.

"Of course. I'll pick you up… later."

They shared one last kiss before the kunoichi left the house, traveling too her own. She noticed that Gaara's door was ajar and peeked inside.

Kankuro came in through the door with food to find his sister passed out with a bloody nose.

_'...Somehow I get the feeling I don't want to know...'_

TBC

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...I can't believe I made Gaara uke XD. I was writing and it just... happened. I wrote this when i was supposed to be finishing my summer work...

Not much to say... feedback please?

Please review!


	32. Chapter 32

OMG... I am so sorry for the long wait, but school has been killing me slowly and painfully, and I just found out that I'm failing math. Yuck. Updates will be pretty unpredictable from this point on, and I apologize. I'll try to get to my other fics to... oh, and yes I will write a seme Gaara lemon sometime before I end the fic, to appease the people who were like, 'uke Gaara? WTF?' Hm... that's about it. Hope you enjoy the chapter. OH, and thanks for 800 reviews! I never thought the story would get this far, so I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. -hands out cookies to readers-

Disclaimer: Naruto and all its characters and places are property of Masahi Kishimoto-sama

* * *

"_By the way, Kyuubi's told me a few times that she wants to meet you. So if you see her around, don't freak out or anything, kay?"_

So Naruto said, but how was he expected to stay calm if forced to talk to his parent's murderer?

'_Wait… that's not fair. It was never established why Kyuubi attacked the village; I shouldn't judge it until I know the full story. But still…'_

He missed his parents. Losing them so soon had been hell on earth, and he almost threw his life away because of it. He'd admit that he had hated the fox, but never the boy. Never Naruto, who went through so much pain in his childhood, like Iruka himself. Now he was seeing a different side of a being who he had dubbed a monster; Naruto had seemed to like the kitsune. It cared enough to look after his adopted son, so was Kyuubi really all bad? It was a question that didn't really have an answer.

"Iruka-san?"

He sat up sharply on his couch, eyes scanning the room and one hand on a kunai; he knew it couldn't be Kakashi, as the jounin was out on a mission and the voice had been distinctly female.

"Who's there?"

Suddenly he saw what the voice had come from. A smaller from the original size but still large Kyuubi was sitting calmly on the rug in his living room. He froze, having no idea what to do. The kitsune cocked her head to the side slightly, eyeing the tanned man in front of her. She could almost taste his uncertainty, which was mixed with confusion and slight fear. She found it strange, as she had expected more fear, revulsion, and hate. Everyone else thought so of her, why not he? Then again, he was the one who had taken in and loved her kit, even when the rest of Konoha had despised him, her poor little kit.

"Kyuubi…"

He slowly stood up from the couch, staring, trying to read her. She saw different expressions cross his features and after some of the more predictable ones (ie fear, distrust) Kyuubi found something that intrigued her: curiosity. Finally, something she could work with. But before any of that, there was one thing she had to say.

"I'm sorry."

His eyes widened. She guessed he hadn't been expecting that; why would a demon apologize? Well, she felt guilty, that's why. That night never should have happened… it was a mistake.

"You're… sorry?"

Iruka's strength left his legs and he flopped down onto the couch. The great and powerful Kyuubi no Youko, who had killed even the mighty Yondaime, was sorry?

"I was in a blind rage, and I'm truly ashamed at my lack of control that night. It cost so many lives, ruined so many families… and ruined any happy childhood that the kit would have had. I've always wanted to thank you, by the way."

"Thank me for what?"

"For accepting Naruto for who he is, not what I am. He loves you like a father, you know that right?"

Iruka smiled softly; yes, he knew he was as much a father to Naruto as the boy was a son to him. He settled back more comfortably on the couch; for some reason the apology had made Kyuubi seem more… human. He no longer felt in danger, but he wondered what had caused the youkai to go into such a rage.

"Yes, I know. What of you, Kyuubi-san? What is Naruto to you?"

Kyuubi looked a bit startled, and her nine tails swished around her body like lithe, furry snakes.

"Well, at first I admit I was angry for being sealed, not angry at Naruto really, just at people in general. I didn't give much thought to him until the incident where you saved him from that grey haired bastard…. Though I had thought it admirable how the gaki kept living in the face of abuse from his own village. Hate to admit it, but I'm hopelessly attached now. He's the son I never had; he just draws people to him, you know what I mean? I'm happy that I have him for a carrier. I'm also glad you were there for him while I was practically useless."

"It was my pleasure, Kyuubi-san."

Who knew that Naruto had created a soft spot in even the mighty Kyuubi's heart? Who knew that Kyuubi had a heart in the first place? Iruka had been expecting her attitude to be like that of a Hyuuga or Uchiha, haughty and superior. In fact, Kyuubi was quite pleasant and seemed rather fond of him.

'_This is something Kakashi is not going to believe when he comes home…'_

"So you mated with Kakashi? That's good, he will make good mate. I know that the gaki approves."

At the disbelieving look on his face, she chuckled. Kids were such fun.

* * *

Why was he doing this again? Oh yeah, Hinata had told him that Hiashi was getting suspicious of all the time they spent with their friends, so they decided to hang out with their teams for the day. Unluckily for him, Tenten had been unable to make it… Or maybe that was a good thing, in the light of her scary yaoi fangirlness. 

"My ever **Youthful Student**s! We must do our best to **Improve **our **Abilities**, even though one of our **Comrades** is **Absent**!"

Thumbs up, smile, sparkle. Okay, maybe it was a bad thing Tenten wasn't there. Yaoi fangirl or not, at least she didn't wear green and orange. Together.

"Hai! Gai-sensei, I will try my best! For Youth!"

Thumbs up, smile sparkle. Oh, the humanity...

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

Cue dramatic sunset backgrounds and waves crashing into the shore. Neji suppressed the urge to ram himself in the stomach with a kunai. Repeatedly.

'_Maybe if I don't make any sudden movements they'll forget I'm here…'_

'_Fat chance.'_

Having finished his usual ritual with Lee, Gai now turned to his other student. To Neji's horror his sensei seemed to study him intently, his huge eyebrows scrunched up in concentration. Then his face split into a huge, shiny grin, even as his eyes tear-ed up emotionally.

"Neji-kun…"

Neji was getting a bad feeling. Around Gai, this was _never ever_ a good thing.

"Could it be that you have finally found… Youthful Love?"

'_Uh oh.'_

'_More like Holy Shit! How the hell did he know that?'_

_'Who knows what he sees under those huge eyebrows...'  
_

"Gai-sensei, I-

Before Neji could come up with some excuse to get himself out of this, he had been grabbed in a manly hug by Gai and his sensei was now sobbing dramatically into his shoulder. On the sidelines, Lee began to tear up as well.

"**OH, I AM RELIEVED THAT YOU HAVE FINALLY EXPERIENCED A TRULY BEAUTIFUL PART OF YOUR YOUTH!**"

"NEJI-KUN, IS THIS TRUE? I CONGRATULATE YOU! YOU MUST BE BURNING WITH THE PASSION OF YOUTH! YOSH!"

Said Hyuuga let out a strangled gasp as his teammate joined in, initiating a sort of choking, enthusiastic group hug. Just as he was thinking of resorting to Jyuuken to get them off of him they let go, emotional tears still streaming down their faces. Gai placed a manly hand on Neji's shoulder.

"Tell me Neji, who is the **Lucky Youthful Person **that you have wooed?"

Neji was at a loss for words; knowing Gai, the enthusiastic man would have it all over town in a few days if he confessed. Neji did not like to think about what his uncle would say if he found out…

"Gai-san!"

T.C. walked over to the three shinobi, a knowing smile on her face. Gai turned to face her, temporarily forgetting his interrogation of Neji.

"Auntie Keesha was wondering if you could help her move some boxes into the shop. We'd do it ourselves, bit they're just a bit too heavy."

At the thought of helping his lady love, Gai's face lit up with fervor. He assumed the nice guy pose.

"Ah, I see! Thank you for telling me T.C.-chan, I shall go over right away!"

"Hai, me too Gai-sensei! I have yet to meet Keesha-san, and am looking forward to it!"

Lee had been looking forward to meeting the woman who had managed to capture his teachers heart; she must be an extraordinary women. As the two ran off, twin blurs across the grass, T.C. turned to Neji, who was looking imminently relieved.

"T.C.-chan, you have no idea how much I love you right now."

She smiled mischievously at him.

"You better. Not quite ready to be out, huh?"

Neji shook his head as a negative.

"Unless my uncle suddenly finds himself accepting of such relationships, I doubt he would approve at all."

T.C.'s face turned sour at the mention of the Hyuuga patriarch; she knew him to be haughty and unpleasant and did not like the Hyuuga family's self imposed segregation and near enslavement of its members. Her gaze softened as she looked at Neji's hitae-ate clad head, knowing that underneath was the symbol that chained him to his family until death. She twitched in disgust. Poor Neji...

"Wanna crash at my place for a bit? Hinata's with her teammates and I would think you're get tired of the Hyuuga compound. Everything seems so…formal there. When Hinata comes back maybe we could find Kankuro and all go out to eat dinner. That sound okay?"

Neji nodded gratefully; it was true that he needed a break from the oppressiveness of the Hyuuga residence, and dinner with friends and his boyfriend sounded awfully nice.

'_T.C. and Hinata haven't even confessed to each other, and I already see her as another cousin. Well… maybe closer to a big sister.'_

* * *

Gaara dreams. 

He dreams of a tainted childhood, and hands stained with the blood of his uncle. He dreams of bloodshed and slaughter, and of sand that reeks of blood. He dreams of bright blue eyes and blonde hair, of laughter and being surrounded by friends. He smiles slightly; it was nice to know that he could be happy, even after going through hell during his childhood.

Naruto dreams

He dreams of scathing glares and ugly whispers, of abandonment and loneliness. He dreams of a kind smile mixed with fierce scolding, and of two teammates and a sensei. He dreams of red hair and green eyes, of sand and leaves. He is happy.

Then it changes.

The green eyes are replaced by slitted gold ones that glare maliciously, and the leaves are replaced by red clouds on a black sky. He feels fear, absolute and total fear, and cries out…

Gaara is awakened by whimpers from his mate and he worries. He starts to stroke Naruto's spiky blonde locks after he cries out, and the other boy seems to relax into the ministrations. A sleep hazed blue eye flickered open.

"Gaara… don't leave me."

The words are whispered so quietly he barely makes them out. He places a gentle kiss on Naruto's forehead.

"It was just a nightmare, Naruto… go back to sleep."

The blonde nods sleepily, soothed by his mate's presence. He quickly slips back to sleep, but not before wondering about the nightmare and what it had implied.

'_Akatsuki…'_

_TBC_

* * *

Okay, so right now I'm thinking of putting a few more chapters of this to lead up to a sequel. I also want to post oneshots for Hinata and T.C. and Neji and Kankuro. Just thought i'd let you guys know. _  
_Peace out! 

Please Review, I love you all dearly.


	33. Chapter 33

-Coughs- OMG, I am so sorry it has taken my so long to update... school, life, blah blah blah... all the usual excuses. But really, i'm sorry. Thanks to whoever asked my if my story was, "...left to die like a hooker in a Hollywood gutter?" -cough- No, as I might have mentioned before, I will never abondon this story... It annoys the crap out of me when others do, I would never do it to my readers. -cough- Sorry, no juicy bits in this one... as you might have noticed -cough- I'm sick right now... no energy to write the stuff without it coming out like crap... and I have about 10 minutes left until my mom kicks me off the computer to get sleep... I will revise this story sometime, so i'll tell you guys when I start so you won't get really confused. Hmm... and... yep, that's about it. Thanks again to all of my reviewers. (who get my off my lazy sick ass...)

Disclaimer: None belong to me. Except T.C., who is NOT a Mary Sue. Seriously.

* * *

Team Kurenai sat on the grass amiably, having a picnic consisting of a huge bento box. Kiba was recounting his talk with Kankuro, to Hinata, who was slightly amused. 

"…so I find out that Naruto is going out with the freaky sand kid, and that Neji actually has the capacity for emotions! It was seriously weird, who would have expected it? Did you know about it, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata looked down at her hands and smiled softly.

"H-hai, I'm happy for both Neji-niisan and Naruto-kun, they deserve the happiness."

Kiba eyed her critically.

"Are you sure? Didn't you have like, a humongous crush on Naruto?"

The pale eyed girl blushed and looked down at her hands; it was slightly mortifying that everyone she knew had noticed… except for the object of her affections. Not that it really mattered now. Shino silently rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses; did Kiba always have to be so blunt?

'_Then again if he wasn't he wouldn't be Kiba, now would he?'_

"I-I did… b-but I g-got over it a w-while ago…"

Oh gods, the stuttering returns. Kiba, noticing the sudden retrogression, tactfully decided to drop the subject.

"Oh, then that's okay. So how's the icy bastard doing now?"

Hinata had to smile as she remembered her earlier conversation with her cousin.

"Great. It's so cute how he acts now that he has a crush, its done wonders for his attitude. I feel a bit sorry for him though…"

Now both of her teammates were intrigued. Kiba leaned a little closer to hear better, and Shino pushed his sunglasses further up his face.

"Why, Hinata?"

This time Hinata giggled softly, remembering the look of pure terror on Neji's face as he recounted his encounter with Temari.

"Kankuro-san has a big sister who's… overprotective, to say the least."

"You mean the scary chick with the huge fan and four ponytails?"

"Hai. She terrifies him."

Kiba burst out laughing, barely refraining from toppling over in his mirth.

"I have to meet her sometime… a chick who can scare the piss out of Neji? Priceless!"

Hinata would never admit it out loud, but she thought that Kiba had a point.

* * *

Shukaku stood frozen in shock, not quite believing what he had seen. As soon as the people left he bolted towards Konoha, cursing under his breath. If he and Kyuubi thought that Orochi was bad, this was worse. Much worse. 

'_Shit. Did they have to come so soon…?'_

The kits were not going to like this at all.

Neji looked in awe at T.C.'s impressive manga collection, which was stashed in various places around the room. He could see everything from Shojo to shounen, from sports manga to yaoi. On her wall was an enlarged picture of Gaara and Naruto, hung in the place of honor above her bed. Neji raised an eyebrow.

"Obsessed much?"

A giant plushie kunai was thrown at his head. He caught it easily in his hand.

"I'll take that as a yes."

He was infinitely grateful to have been invited over, not exactly wanting to go back to the Hyuuga compound. T.C.'s place was definitely different. Her walls were painted green and her wall was decorated with various posters and drawings. A laptop was in one corner along with a printer, and various books, magazines, jewelry, and CD covers were spread haphazardly on almost every surface. All in a all, it looked like a small exploding tag had been detonated and flung everything around randomly.

It definitely wasn't the room Neji had been expecting; where were her weapons and scrolls? He got his answer when the girl opened her closet. Most of her weapons were carefully stored in boxes, along with a low shelf that held quite a few aging scrolls. T.C. rummaged further back and unearthed a huge box labeled 'Pocky.' Neji stared.

'_There's no way that huge box is actually filled with…'_

An entire box of strawberry pocky was thrown in his direction.

'_Once again, I'm proven wrong'_

Noticing Neji staring at her incredulously, T.C. smiled and shrugged.

"Pocky's like crack; you can never get enough of it once you're addicted. Same with manga really."

'_No kidding'_ thought Neji dryly as he cleared some manga and clothes off of a beanbag. T.C. stuck a piece of green tea pocky into her mouth and shoved the box back into her closet.

"So are you doing okay back at the Hyuuga compound? Since your parents aren't…"

"I'm fine. Family is family, even if they have a…strange way of showing it. What about your parents?"

He always wondered where T.C.'s parents were, or if they were still alive. Nobody really knew much about the girl, truth be told, not even Hinata. She looked contemplative as she chewed the biscuit stick.

"My parents? Well, mom's gone -she was killed in a mission when I was six- and dad's a traveling medic, so he sent me to live with auntie here in Konoha. Auntie is my dad's big sister. My mom was a kunoichi -chuunin level- and I managed to get some training from her before she died. I was even named after her; my first name's Tsukiko."

"What's the 'C' stand for then?"

He thought it was a perfectly sane question, yet she looked at him like he was a moron. Actually, she seemed to do that a lot…

"It stands for –Chan" she said, as if stating the most obvious thing in the world. Neji stared.

"Why don't you just call yourself Tsukiko-chan then? And why use a capitol 'C'?"

She smiled at him mysteriously through the pocky stuck into her mouth.

"I think it makes my name more interesting if I use initials."

"…You're a weirdo, you know that?"

"Of course!"

Neji wondered when exactly he has stopped minding being around crazy people. Then again, he had spent several years of his life around Gai and Lee… maybe he'd developed immunity to strangeness? But really, the truth was that this girl was like family to him now.

'_Maybe real families…are act like this?'_

'_Nope, I think it's just us. Hey, you aren't that sane yourself you know… what with talking to your inner-conscience and all.'_

'_Am I trying to convince myself that I'm insane?'_

'_Maybe…'_

'…_Why must I screw with myself like this?'_

* * *

'_GAKI!'_

Gaara covered his ears, which only resulted in Shukaku's screech echoing even more through his head and eardrums.

'_WTF? Don't fucking try to explode my eardrums, bastard!'_

'_Shut up brat, this is important!'_

Gaara shut up; Shukaku actually sounded panicked, a rare occurrence for the Tanuki demon. Naruto was staring at him, knowing that Shukaku had just entered.

'_Okay, so was out and I saw these two guys from Akatsuki somehow suck Orochi's spirit into a memorial tablet. I think that they can only do that when a spirit is not attached to a body, as in his case. Have you seen Kyuubi? We should stay inside you guys until we really know what's going on…'_

Gaara face was grim as he relayed the information to Naruto. A serious expression spread over the boy's usually grinning face.

"Hey Gaara, can you ask him what they looked like?"

'_One was a guy who swore a lot and followed this hell of weird ass religion, and the other could shoot strings out of his hands.'_

'…_can you be more specific?'_

'_Nope.'_

'…_.fuck…'_

"They don't sound familiar to me… they must be newer members. Naruto… what do you think we should do?"

"I don't think there's much we can do… Tsunade-baba knows that Akatsuki's been bolder lately, but as long as she'd not too worried, I wouldn't worry about them attacking us here.

"True."

That knowledge calmed both of them, and Gaara started to grill Shukaku for all the information he had on the Akatsuki and what they might be planning. Frankly, the biju has no idea and that was what worried him the most. What would humans do with the spirits of demons?

Kankuro leaned outside of Gaara's bedroom door, having eavesdropped on the conversation.

'_Them again? Dammit, but if anything I promise you this little brother… no matter what I won't let them take you again.'_

He had almost lost his brother once; he wouldn't make the same mistake again, no matter what.

* * *

Hinata, Kiba, and Shino started to pack up what was left of the bento box. Having wrapped up the remaining contents and handing them to Hinata, Kiba voiced something that had been on his mind for a while. 

"Hinata-chan… you said you got over Naruto, right? Does this mean you like someone else?"

To both the boys surprise, instead of a blush or a stutter they got a smile.

"Yes."

Kiba blinked. Behind his glasses, Shino blinked. And, even though it was summertime, a breeze blew past, trailing some leaves in its wake. Kiba shook off his stupor (literally) and looked at her like she was some weird alien life form.

"You can just…admit that? Don't get me wrong, I think its great but… you've changed."

Shino nodded his agreement; his female teammate had indeed changed. Not just her speech, but her air seemed somehow more confident, more assertive than it had been before. Hinata had changed, but in no way was it an unpleasant change. The girl looked thoughtful for a moment, then she smiled again, more to herself then to them.

"Yes… I have, haven't I? I feel more free… all my life, I've tried to live up to unreal expectations, and all it did was strip away my self confidence. Now that I've admitted to myself there's something I really want… Something I would fight for… I feel less afraid. Have I really changed, or an I just being more true to myself?"

Her companions were shocked for a moment, but gradually Kiba's face split into a huge grin and he hugged her gleefully, spinning her in the air in the process.

"Hintata, that's great! I've been wondering if you were ever going to break out of your shell… This guy must be awesome, you have to introduce me to him soon. I bet that's where you're headed now, huh? Congratulations!"

Shino, not given to displays of physical affection or support, offered her a small smile. She understood the gesture and offered one in return. When Kiba had let her down she grabbed the bento box and started off down the street. Turning around to wave good bye, she left one parting remark.

"Thank you Kiba-kun… It makes me happy that you are supportive of my like this. Don't worry, you'll meet her soon."

Then the young Hyuuga was off, jumping through the trees in the direction of the city. For the second time that day, Kiba blinked. Three, two, one….

"Did Hinata just say that I'll meet '_her_' soon?"

The only show of surprise from Shino was a slight rise of an eyebrow.

"…that she did."

Blink blink.

"Whoa… okay, no idea she swung that way… I mean… eh?"

Shino's eyebrows furrowed behind his sunglasses.

"…Why, do you not support her choice?"

The question obviously caught the Inuzuka by surprise, because he swung around to regard his companion.

"What? No! I'm not some homophobe or sumthin'. I'm just surprised… no idea she went for chicks… but then again, I think most of us swing on both sides of the ballroom. I wonder if her girlfriend is hot?"

Shino gave Kiba a wry expression from behind his glasses.

'…_Every time I talk to Kiba, he surprises me more and more… Inuzuka really are unpredictable.'_

"…You believe that everyone is inherently bisexual?"

"Yeah, I guess. I dunno about you, but I know I've looked at girls and boys… each has their own things that makes 'em special, y'know?"

"…"

'_I've never really tried to notice…'_

Akamaru, who'd been napping in the sun until that point, woke up with a yawn and a stretch. He found himself immediately accosted by his human, who bounded up to him excitedly.

"You awake, Akamaru? You not believe what I just heard from Hinata…!"

While Kiba related the previous conversation to his canine friend, who listened with interest, Shino was thinking.

'_Kiba's bisexual… Hinata's apparently a lesbian… what the hell am I? Asexual?'_

_TBC _

* * *

_-_cough- Yes, random note to leave it off on... Sorry. I'll try harder with the next chapter... well, i'm off to bed -cough- 

Review for the sick? -cough- (FYI, the only reason this got written now was because someone left an review to make me hurry up...)_  
_


	34. Chapter 34

...Filler chapter. Writers block sucks... but I tried. Sorry guys!

Disclaimer: Naruto (c) belongs to Kishimoto-sensei

* * *

Hinata was met by a very strange sight when she arrived at T.C.'s room. Neji was lying on the bed looking vaguely disturbed, while T.C. sat in a chair next to him, nodding sagely and taking notes while he talked. It looked eerily like some sort of cheesy therapist soap show. 

"And there's this voice in my head, and he scares me. I think I'm subconsciously trying to convince myself that I'm insane."

T.C. scribbled something in a notebook and pushed her glasses up her nose. "I see. Is there anytime that the voice particularly pops up? What does he say to you? When did you first notice the voice?"

'_Tell her that I'm awesome, I pop up when you're being a dumbass, I give you sage advice, and I came along with your hormones.'_

"He's annoying, he pops up when I don't want him there, says idiotic things, and came completely randomly. Also, I hate him."

'_You are a cruel, cruel person.'_

"_Now who's insulting himself?"_

'…_See if I help you out again, with that attitude.'_

"_Like I wanted you to 'help' in the first place?"_

'_You know you can't do anything without me.'_

"_Yes I can!"_

'_Nu uh.'_

"_Ya- oh no, I am not getting dragged into that again!"_

"….Neji…?"

T.C. barely refrained from snickering when the boy started and light blush of mortification dusted his cheeks.

"I assume you two were conferring with each other?" She said perfectly seriously. She noticed Hinata in the doorway and winked. Hinata laughed and waved back.

"Is Neji-niisan having a problem?"

"He hears a voice in his head. And something tells me it's actually there."

"I'm still here you know!"

The girls just laughed and Neji huffed, sitting upright and swinging his legs over the bed. Hinata sat next to him on top of the green comforter, greeting him with a smile.

"How was your team meeting?"

From the twitching, annoyed expression on his face she guessed that it didn't go too well. Neji's sensei was nice, but he was also a bit… overbearing at times. T.C. laughed and filled her in, including Gai and Lee almost glomping him to death.

"I got them off just in time. Neji looked about ready to either commit suicide or homicide."

"You would too, if you'd had to spend the time around them that I do." Neji grumbled. It was true that he liked them both a certain extent, as teacher and comrade, but one could only take so much 'youth' in a certain amount of time. Or any amount of time, in fact.

"Hinata-sa- um, chan, how was your team picnic?"

Hinata gave a little secretive smile. "It was good, Neji-niichan."

T.C. thought that she was being awfully unspecific about the meeting, but kept her thoughts to herself. For now, at least. "So what prompted these little team reunions, again?"

Both Hyuuga's faces fell a little, and they glanced at each other. Neji opted to speak for the both of them. "He's been… a little suspicious about whom we spend time with. We thought it best to spend some time with our teams, to maybe throw him off."

T.C.'s eyebrows furrowed. "Neji… I hate to ask, but you have to think about it…What _are _you going to about your uncle?"

Both Hyuuga froze. Neji just stared at her while Hinata looked down, her bangs obscuring her face. Eventually his gaze dropped as well and T.C. stared at her friends worriedly, knowing their current situation and hating herself for not being able to do anything about it. Eventually Neji raised spoke, still looking down at his lap.

"…I don't know… there's not much I can do. If I didn't have the caged bird seal, then I could but…" He trailed off miserably, knowing full well he could get hurt, die even, depending how bad Hiashi took it. T.C. took a deep breath; she knew it would hurt him, but she had to ask. For both his and Kankuro's sakes.

"Would you be able to continue your relationship and deal with the consequences? If you can't… you should end your relationship right now."

Neji saw it pained her to ask that question, but he had to admit it was valid. If he kept going, only to back out in the end, it would hurt him and Kankuro more than if he just broke it off now. However, if he decided to stick with it and his uncle didn't take it well… that would hurt them too. He was between a rock and a hard place, and he had no idea how to deal with it.

"I don't… know…" he muttered, his vision blurring. Why him? For a second he flashed back on his old self, when he believed that fate ran everything. Was it his fate to be constantly screwed over by life? Why couldn't he just-

**Slap**

The soft sound practically echoed in the sudden silence of the room. Neji was too shocked to react at all, and T.C.'s glasses slipped right off her nose and landed on the floor with a plop. In front of Neji stood Hinata. Her bangs were still shadowing her face but she soon raised her head, staring at her cousin with an emotion he couldn't quite place. She spoke quietly, but Neji could hear the strength in his cousin's voice.

"Neji… what do you mean you don't know? Are you saying you hit one hurdle, and you're ready to give up? I know that you'll have to go through a lot, maybe even… even hell itself, but that's no reason to give up! Remember what Naruto told you, about making your own path? It might seem impossible, but you have to believe that things can work out! And what about Kankuro-san? Won't it just hurt him more if you give up without a fight? I know you're not that weak… or at least I though so. I don't you want to give up on a person I know you really care about, just because our family has problems. I believe in you, and you know your friends support you, so grow a spine! If even… even I can do it, so can you, so don't give up!"

By the end of her speech she was staring at him hard, trying to analyze if her words were having any effect. He gaped at her for a few seconds, almost unable to believe what had just happened. If anything, her words had been more of a slap in the face than the actual slap in the face (Not that it had been a hard slap- this was Hinata, after all). By that time T.C. had picked up her glasses and replaced them on her face, looking at Hinata with respect. She'd always know the Hyuuga heiress had a great deal of repressed inner strength, but the look in Hinata's eyes was intense. It was mostly determination, but the other kunoichi could have sworn there was some desperation in there as well.

'_Desperation over what, I wonder…'_

Neji finally found his voice, or at least some of it. "Hinata…chan…" He'd never seen his cousin like this, and frankly it intimidated him a little bit. Thinking over what she said, and remembering the sting he had felt when she hit his right cheek, he knew: She was right.

'_I think Naruto rubbed off on her a bit. Scrap that, a lot.'_

'_She does have a point, you-'_

"_Hey, I can deal with this myself! Go away!"_

'…_Well excuuuuse me, Mr. smartass who got himself slapped for being a spineless moron.'_

"…_Okay, sorry for yelling at you."_

'_An apology? My goodness, do you have a fever?'_

"…_Nevermind, I take back that apology."_

'_Hey…!'_

"…you're right." With that Neji stood up and awkwardly hugged his cousin, feeling infinitely grateful. "Thank you, Hinata-chan…" _'for getting me off my emo ass and making me remember why I gave up on fate.'_

Hinata hugged him back, her face flushing slightly as she calmed down. "I did what I had too… but sorry for the slap, it was… spur of the moment." She honestly hadn't meant to slap him, but she just couldn't stand him being so passive. And also…

"We can handle Hiashi-sama together." Neji whispered in her ear, low enough so only she could hear. He now realized what the other emotion in her eyes had been: desperation. Hinata hadn't confessed yet, and was stronger as a person, but she still didn't want to face her father alone, when the time came. He understood what she had been thinking behind her statement.

'_Don't back out and leave me to face him alone. Because even if you give up… I won't.'  
_

* * *

Kankuro started down that hall of the Yadoya, heading toward Temari's room. 

'_I have to tell her what Gaara and Naruto said… I'm not sure if they'll tell us, in case they don't want us to worry. I wish… that Gaara trusted us more... not that we've given him a reason too, at least we didn't before he met Naruto.'_

Not bothering to knock he came upon the wooden door and turned the handle, pushing it open.

"Hey Temari, there's something you need to…. AUGH, MY EYES!"

Temari indignantly grabbed the bed sheet to cover herself, even though her little brother was long gone by that point. "Hasn't the brat ever heard of knocking? Damn!"

Shikamaru just sighed and sat back on his bum, idly wondering at his girlfriend's little brothers power to turn into a blur whenever he needed to run. Fast. Such as when he walks in on his big sister doing… things.

'_How troublesome…'  
_

* * *

T.C. was watching the touching reconciliation between cousins when she heard her door open, then slam shut. Someone came pounding up the stairs and the bespectacled girl found herself with an armful of a familiar, spiky-haired brunette. 

"…I've just been scarred for life."

Ever the non-licensed therapist, T.C. took it all in stride. "And what exactly was so mentally scarring?"

"…I don't want to think about it."

"Did it have something to do with sex?"

"…maybe…"

T.C. decided to make an educated guess.

"You saw your sister and her boyfriend screwing?"

Kankuro just groaned and buried his face in his hands, trying to get rid of the horrible image etched into his mind. "My poor virgin eyes!"

T.C. sweat-dropped and patted his back sympathetically. "Did you forget to knock?"

"…Yes."

"Just remember next time, okay hun?"

"No kidding." said the puppet user with a grimace. He was definitely knocking from now on- and on both of his siblings doors. One mentally scarring image was quite enough, he really didn't need another one.

* * *

Both Gaara and Naruto looked up from their conversation when a scream echoed through the halls. 

"Um, Gaara? What was that?"

Gaara wasn't exactly sure, but he could have sworn he head the phrase "my virgin eyes" among the screaming.

'_That would be your brother then.'_

"…_Are you sure?"_

'_Well he's the only one left in here with 'virgin' eyes, isn't he?'_

"…_True."_

"It was Kankuro… according to Shukaku."

Naruto cocked his head. "I wonder what happened to him?"

TBC

* * *

Omake? 

Kiba and Shino were walking home together, with Akamaru trailing behind. The Inuzuka has noticed that Shino was being even more quiet than usual, and determined to find out why.

"Something on your mind, Shino?"

"...Yes."

"An' what's that?"

"...matters dealing with sexuality."

That sentence caused Kiba to stop dead in his tracks, and he twisted his head to stare at his companion.

"...You serious?"

"Why would I not be?"

Kiba thought about it. Shino was thinking about sexuality... Did Shino even have a sexuality?

"Well, enlighten me. Why're ya thinking about it?"

"...What is sexuality?"

Kiba face faulted, landing on the ground next to Akamaru ,who was giving Shino a look that quite clearly said, 'Are you serious?' Shino eyed his teammate quizically, wondering why he seemed so shocked by the question. Kiba sat on the ground at looked at his teammate, wondering where to even start with that question.

"Um... well... have you ever been attracted to anyone?"

"...Attracted...?"

Another cold breeze blew past trailing leaves in its wake. Both dog and owner looked at Shino blankly, then at each other. A silent agreement was reached. Kiba stood up, dusted himself off. and clasped Shino on the shoulder.

"Buddy... You've got a lot to learn. Let me show you the way."

TBC?

* * *

Hmm.. yes, interpret this chapter as you will I suppose. Oh, and to Hollywood Hooker: Don't worry, I'm glad you sent me that review. Oh, and thanks guys, for getting reviews over 900! Love you all! -hugs all reviewers- Should I continue the omake thingy?

Reviews are lovely things Onegai?


	35. Chapter 35

See, I'm not dead! -insert happy face- I know its been awhile since I've updated, sorry about that. Failed my math class, so I've been doing remedial classes all summer. Fun. I just finished today, and the resulting euphoria gave me the inspiration to finally finish this chapter. Enough babbling, enjoy!

Naruto is (c) Masahi Kishimoto and Viz publishers. I do not own it in any way, shape, or form.

Chapter 35

* * *

Gaara loved his mate, he really did, but sometimes Naruto was not the sharpest kunai in the holster. In fact, he could be dense as a stale piece of ration bar stuck to the bottom of someone's vest pocket. Said moron was presently nestled securely in his lap, where he had been immovably anchored ever since being scared out of his wits (the few that he had, which left him with almost none at all). 

"…That was really, really stupid of you."

"Well, she should lock the door or something!"

"….."

Personally, Gaara agreed with him, but he wasn't going to tell his sister that anytime soon. And Naruto's insistence on checking on whatever had made Kankuro scream was his own fault; Temari had not been amused at being interrupted a second time. He heard stomping in the hallway and waited patiently for them to come to his door, but instead the footsteps went down the stairs. A few seconds later the door slammed, and the room was left in silence. Naruto shakily let out the breath he'd been holding.

"I live… to see another day."

Gaara inwardly rolled his eyes at all the unnecessary drama.

* * *

The next day found our favorite Kazekage calmly trying to finish some paperwork in his room. Naruto was out with his academy teacher for the day, and Gaara had been getting rather behind on it. The house was strangely quiet without the blonde there; Gaara thought he had been used to silence, but after all he'd been through since he came to Konoha it was a little unsettling. After a few minutes, he heard footsteps creak down the polished wooden hallway towards his door. He silently put down his papers and waited patiently while his siblings poked their heads through the doorway (He knew that it was slightly open but still, they could have had the decency to knock, dammit!).

"…What?"

He hadn't meant to sound harsh, but he could see how their bodies stiffened at his tone. A small frown made its way to his face as he noticed their slight discomfort. It was similar to what he felt from them back when he-

"Gaara, we just wanted to talk" Temari said soothingly as she stepped into the room followed closely by Kankuro, who had a half guilty look on his face. Gaara's frown deepened; the atmosphere dropped into the 'awkward' zone as they all stood in the room, the older siblings looking at him, then looking away. "Gaara…" Kankuro finally said quietly, "why didn't you tell us?" The red head took a few seconds to process the question, then realized what his brother had to be talking about.

"I… did not want you to worry."

It sounded strange to him, to say out loud that he cared if they worried about him or not. He'd spent too much time over the years telling himself that they weren't important to him, that they hated him just as much as everyone else; convincing himself he hated them in return. Kankuro and Temari's surprise was conveyed by brief shifts in their stances, and they slowly relaxed. The unease in the room lightened slightly. "Didn't want us to worry" Temari echoed disbelievingly, moving to cross her arms over her chest. "Don't you think we'd want to know if an evil organization is going after our little brother _again_? Or… did you not trust us?" she finished quietly. The sand kunoichi was well aware that she and Kankuro had been less than openly supportive of their little brother, and knew that could have affected his trust in them. If they hadn't given him reason to trust them before, why should he now? She wasn't that naïve.

"It's…not that. It's more about what you could have done about the situation" Gaara stated clearly and bluntly. He trusted his siblings much more than he had before, but last time he'd interacted with the Akatsuki they had been helpless to do anything; Kankuro had almost died from poison and Temari had been all the way back in Konoha. He did not want to lose his siblings so soon after finally seeing them as family. It would crack what little of his sanity he had recovered, and that was something he could not afford. He had a village to run- he could not to relapse into his old self. Temari started to retort to the statement, then caught herself. The remark had hurt, but there was also more than a little truth in it. Helplessness was an emotion she hated and tried as much as she could to avoid. Unfortunately, the rare instances when she did feel it were usually connected in some way to her little brother. "It doesn't matter what we can or can't do, Gaara." Kankuro stated quietly, bringing both of his siblings attention to him.

"You're our little brother, so we'll do our best to protect you from anything, including the Akatsuki. Even if we're useless… we can at least do that much. And we won't regret it, because it's our choice. Not yours."

Kankuro wasn't one who was expected to saying anything very profound. He was the lesser known of the three siblings, and preferred it that way. After all, it was much easier to succeed in battle if one was underestimated- which he was. More silence descended on the room, broken only the sounds of light breathing and, in Gaara's head, Shukaku's off hand remark about Kankuro not being a _total_ wussy moron. Gaara promptly snarled (inwardly) at him to shut up. Shukaku pouted. _'Touchy brat.'_

"…Yes." Temari said finally. "What Kankuro said." She turned to glare at her littlest brother, Big Sister mode fully on. "And damn right it's our choice! And if you don't like it, tough." With that she crossed the room and crushed Gaara into a hug, causing him to freeze and his eye to twitch at the sudden (highly unexpected) contact. "Alright, I get it…" He grumbled slightly, squirming uneasily in his sister's death hug. His eye met with his brother's across the room, and they came to a mental agreement- _We understand each other, no mushy hugging crap needed. We're men, after all! – _and all was well. However, his sister was still _hugging_ him-

"…you're ruining my scary, badass reputation Aneki." He stated flatly. Shikaku cackled loudly in his head.

Somehow, somewhere, a little piece of hell froze over.

* * *

Kitsune-no-Kyuubi knew very well that the Hyuuga were a small, powerful clan prone to arrogance and a need to preserve their blood limit that crossed the border of obsessive. She also knew that it was bound to destroy itself internally, unless the idiots somehow managed to _think things through _realize their little slave system was a very _stupid_ idea. Not to mention if they continued the rather obvious inbreeding they would end up with generations of Hyuuga racked with genetic diseases that would _weaken_ their oh so treasured blood line. 

'…_How in all the hells can humans be so _stupid?'she wondered, watching the current leader of the clan mutter to himself. _'Your brother fucking _died in your place_ because the oh so _venerable_ clan elders decided his life was more _worthless_ than yours because you were born what, a _minute_ before him? And you _still_ keep a system that fucked up? Yes, you apologized and all that bullshit, and now you see your nephew as a son or whatever- so why don't you let him have what little happiness he's managed to find in this hellhole? Are you that weak spirited, Hyuuga? Too weak to change a fucked up system that's been in your family practically since it's creation? Too spineless to stand up to the clan elders, to help free _your own family members_ from family sanctioned slavery? …You pathetic little worm.'_

Her blazing eyes narrowed as she saw him rub his temples slightly, a sure sign of irritation, angst, anger, depression, or more angst. It was hard to tell with Hyuuga.

'_They deserve to go out like the Uchiha, if they keep this up… I've seen it happen over and over again, and with clans much greater than your group of snobs.' _

Maybe she was being a little unfair- after all, no one could deny that the Hyuuga were a powerful clan, and the Byakugan an irreplaceable asset to any shinobi village. But still, it wouldn't _kill_ them to marry _outside_ of their family once in a while, hell, it might make their bloodline more powerful. And the whole, 'your lives are lesser than ours because we're the **Main **family'- total bullshit. Frankly, it was shocking no one had revolted so far. …Except for the fact their brains would be melted by the cadged bird seal. That could definitely be the reason.

'_However this turns out… it will be amusing to watch' _the great fox thought, a smirk pulling at her mouth. _'So lets see then- just how much of a puppet are you, Hyuuga Hiashi?' _

Somewhere deep inside himself, Hyuuga Hiashi wished for no more than his children's happiness. He wasn't a heartless man, no matter how cold he seemed to most people. The sun was shining through the leaves of Konoha's many trees, bringing out the vibrant green and bathing the grass in gold. Hiashi gazed on the sight through the open paper slide doors, hands settled regally on his knees. Whatever was going on with his children- and he suspected he knew what it was- he couldn't let it continue. He wasn't _allowed_ to let it continue.

'_You know as well as I do they look happier. Isn't that what you want, Oniisama? For them to be happy?' _

"_Of course I do. Hinata is my daughter, and Neji my nephew… I want them to be happy. But if they have attractions to others-"_

'_They're teenagers, what do you expect? Are you telling me you never looked at someone else romantically when you were that age, Oniisama? Or were you too busy becoming a regal doll?'_

"_They have their duty to the clan. Hinata needs a strong marriage to strengthen our political ties, and preferably Neji as well. His offspring will be powerful, if he marries the right-_

'_Is that what our children are? Pawns, breeders? Are we animals or men, Oniisama? Or are we merely pretty dolls that bow and succumb to those who pull the strings?'_

"…_Please… whoever you are… get out of my head."_

'_You don't know me, Oniisama? Was I that worthless to you, you don't recognize me even when I call you by your title? …And to think I died for you.'_

"…_You… you can't be him. He's dead."_

'_Indeed I am.'_

"_Hisashi…?"_

'_Yes?'_

Hiashi blinked out of it when a muted 'Hiashi-sama' floated through the screen that led into his room. A hand lifted to rub at his temples, his eyes wide and horrified as he went through his mental conversation. _'I must be going crazy…'_

_TBC _

* * *

Omake (aka, the comic relief) 

"…Why are we at the bathhouse spying on people?" Shino stated flatly, briefly pondering the sanity of his teammate. How was _this _supposed to help him understand sexuality?

Kiba turned and stared at his teammate, wondering how Shino could be so smart yet _so fucking clueless. _"Shino- I know you've had sex ed. We were in the same fucking class together. So how the _hell_ is it you don't know this stuff?"

The boy's eyes were unreadable beneath his dark glasses. "What does the biological function of reproduction have to do with this?"

Blink.

"The Biological _what?" _Kiba stated, confused.

"The biological function of reproduction" Shino repeated. "Is sexuality related to breeding, or do you find it a completely separate entity?"

"Shino… sex is _sex_. I have no clue what th' fuck _you're_ talking about. Its about… I dunno, feeling good! Feelin' yer hormones run wild and lettin' em! You can't tell me you've never jacked off or something, you're a fucking teenager for gods-

"You brats are blocking my view! Find somewhere else to tell your dirty stories, I have research to do!" Jiraiya proclaimed crossly as he appeared in the same tree limb the boys were in, pushing Kiba to the side. Between the push, the shock, and the perilous balance he already had on the branch, Kiba flailed his arms out as he fell- right into Shino. The two teens landed with a 'splash!'- right into the women's baths. Kiba idly wondered if it was possible to blush as red as his tattoo marks and as pale as Akamaru's fur at the same time. If it was, that's exactly what he was doing right now.

"….KYAAAAAA!"

"Shit, run!" Kiba hissed to Shino. The two boys disappeared quickly, pursued by a horde of pissy, murderous looking women wearing nothing but towels and waving brooms in the air. Where the brooms came from? The world may never know.

"Bow chikka bow woooow" Jiraiya whispered, his eyes glazed over as he took out a small notepad. This was _so_ going into his next book.

TBC

* * *

Feels good to finally finish this chapter, its been sitting on my computer _forever._ Just to reiterate- I may dissappear, but I will never die! I know it sucks waiting a long time for chapters, but to those who truly enjoy this fic thank you for continuing to read my disconnected ramblings (aka, the story). For those who read my other stories... I'm trying to work on them. I want to try to at least update Boys of Summer before summer break is over... 

Neji: Its not happening. Don't make promises you can't keep.

me: I didn't make a promise in the first place so ha! I said I'd _try._

Neji: Exactly- you'll try and fail. Like with math. -smirk-

Me: ...I hate you... sooo much...

Inner Neji: Don't provoke her, moron. She decides if we ever get laid!

Neji: -rolls his eyes- No ones gotten laid in four chapters. _It ain't gonna happen. _

Me: It will! ...Eventually. Maybe.

Neji: That's a no. End of story.

Me: You have no faith in me, do you?

Neji: No.

Me: ...You're a cruel, cruel soul.

Neji: And that's why people love me

* * *

Review if you want to comment. -smile- 


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